


Veloria

by OnceWeMeetAgain



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst, Asexuality, Bul Gae, Dragon Choi Beomgyu, Dragon Yeonjun, Fantasy AU, Fluff, Give Taehyun a fucking break, Implied Sexual Content, Injury, Kai is a sapling, M/M, Mage Kang Taehyung, Magical Tattoos, Nymph Huening Kai, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Scars, Smut, Soulmates, Swearing, Worldbuilding, Yeonbin are a cute old married couple, a but of actual sexual content, human soobin, innovative swearing, lil sprout Hyuka, planes of living, soobin calls Yeonjun his husband, soul bonds, they aren’t really old tho tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:28:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28904883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceWeMeetAgain/pseuds/OnceWeMeetAgain
Summary: Soobin doesn’t have any clue as to where he was. One minute he’s in his apartment, the next he’s surrounded by purples trees and blue flowers.Oh yeah, and a huge fucking dragon staring him down.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Huening Kai, Choi Beomgyu/Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun, Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 18
Kudos: 157





	1. Purple Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> These characters are roughly based on TXT. They have no relation to their true lives other than the basics. The actions portrayed here do not represent TXT. This is a work of fiction and for fun, do not take my writing seriously.

He’s insane. His friends always joked about it, but he’s officially and utterly insane. There was no fucking way he wasn’t dreaming right now, but no matter what it didn’t feel like a dream to him.

Soobin was standing in a forest of fairy lights and purple leaves. That wasn’t even the weirdest part, he’s seen purple leaves and fairy lights before, what he had never seen was the enormous dragon in front of him.

He couldn’t move a muscle in fear of waking the beast up. One second he was in his college dorm room, doing music composition homework and the next he was standing before a fucking dragon. If he wasn’t afraid of actually shitting his pants, he would be able to admire how beautiful the winged creature actually was. Brilliant blue scales with hints of purple on the smaller scales. It slept curled up, wings tucked back towards its only appendages, clawed feet. However majestic the dragon was, Soobin still couldn’t get over the fact he was looking at one in the first place. Dragons were mythical creatures, even preschoolers knew this was true. So how in the hell was he seeing one, sleeping, and breathing in shallow breaths of heat.

Did someone slip him something? Maybe some stupid freshmen decided to drug the cafeteria food today, hoping to find popularity. Like Psychedelic mushrooms or something and that’s why it felt so real. What else could it even be besides a drug induced trip or the most realistic dream there ever was. 

Too quickly for it to be comfortable, the dragon’s eyes opened and Soobin couldn’t hold in his scream of terror at the sight of pale pinkish yellow eyes. His scream wasn’t just in terror but at the pain erupting behind his eyes and on his chest. It was like the brilliant heat of the sun was pouring into his head and chest. He hardly even noticed the low grumble of the dragon in his anguish.

Soobin quickly forgot about his fear and let out a small cry as he grasped his chest. He wanted to throw up but it felt like any bile rising up his throat would evaporate as soon as it passed his burning heart. Was he sweating or freezing, he didn’t know but shivers ran down his body. It was a relief when the pain subsided in his chest, but the pounding in his head remained.

_ “Human, what is your name?” _ a voice rang in his mind, making him dizzy as well as nauseous. Soobin couldn’t help but hurl on the grass, clutching his head. There was too much going on and he was completely overwhelmed, so it was no surprise that he lost consciousness and landed in his own vomit.

Soobin dreamed of the last time he saw his sister. She had taken a day off work for his last day of his freshman year of university. They had gone to a nice cafe off campus where she smiled brightly, pinched his cheeks, and said how proud she was of him. It was only days later that on her business trip she got trapped under a building during an earthquake and died.

He never really told his parents that she had spent a good portion of her last paycheck to buy the two of them matching earrings. Soobin always had those small gold hoops on, the same ones she died wearing. After weeks, they had found her body and sent it back to them where he silently made sure she was buried in them. 

It had only been a year but he had never realized how much his sister included him in the family. Soobin was significantly younger than his older sister and brother, unplanned would be a nice way to say it. By the time of his birth, both of his parents had demanding jobs and his late grandmother and older sister would look after him. Without her, it really didn’t feel much like a family.

Soobin found himself being awakened slowly by something wet on his head. Maybe that dragon thing had been a dream and there had been a fire at the dorm or something, making him hallucinate. That kind of thing happens, maybe. Okay Soobin wasn’t a fucking neurologist okay? 

_ “Human?” _ the voice from his ‘dream’ rang in his head. Wait a tit licking moment. 

“Noooo” Soobin groaned, he kept his eyes closed so he didn’t have to confirm this nightmare was still ongoing.

_ “Human, you have been asleep for many days, you must eat” _ maybe the voice was his messed up conscious. Movie characters always had a stranger’s voice in their head, so why couldn’t he. The sudden, unmistakable pain of hunger hit his stomach. Now Soobin might want to not believe the impossible thought that this was all real, but he would always believe his stomach. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes.

And he was in a fucking cave. Was it stereotypical of him to not be surprised the dragon lived in a cave? Looking around slowly, the cave wasn’t horrible. It was a nice temperature in here and they were in a large cavern. By the way, the wetness on his head, from a cave pool. Soobin was in a fantasy novel for sure, one of those ones middles aged women with an unsatisfied sex life bought at an airport and read once. He was submerged in the shallow water, his head had been laid on the edge of the pool, with a piece of brown cloth underneath. How did a dragon position his body like this? And how did the dragon undress him? Where was the dragon?

_ “Ah, you’re awake, I’m nearby cooking some meat for you”  _ the voice said. Is the dragon in his head? Soobin would faint again if dragon’s could read minds too. He shivered, suddenly feeling too exposed in the clear, shallow water. The lighting of the cave did help some but the torches lining the rock made him wonder if the dragon had a human servant or something. Soobin noticed a larger piece of cloth on the edge of the pool and hoped it was a makeshift towel or clothes. When he went to grab it, his chest ached at the movement. 

“Oh my god the dragon tattooed me” Soobin whispered in disbelief. Glimmering gold decorated the skin above his heart. It looked kind of like a lotus flower, each petal glimmering in the torch light. Now Soobin didn’t know much about tattoos but he was pretty sure that they couldn’t be metallic. There were four dots beneath the flower, close together and leading to some kind of symbol that looked like two half circles meeting at the curve with a horizontal line through them. The bottom of the circles had two lines coming off of it to meet below in the middle like a triangle. Soobin had no idea what the hell it meant, but he did have some choice words for however tattooed him without his consent. Frantically, he checked the rest of his body for other unwanted permanent marks. Unless they did something on his back or head, there didn’t seem to be any other tattoos, thankfully.

_ “I have left you clothing, it might be small on you” _ the voice in his head was really making him pissed now. He wished he could tell it to shut the fuck up.  _ “I don’t know what that means, but I can explain things after you’re dressed” _ oh so it heard him. Wanting answers, Soobin sighed loudly and stood up. He grabbed the cloth left by the pool’s edge and lifted it up. There were two items, a tunic and those lace up pants that the three musketeers wear. And either the dragon didn’t know humans wore underwear or underwear didn’t exist here. Great, he has to go commando. Soobin stepped into the pants and awkwardly tucked himself in and hoped the front was where the laces were supposed to be. He tucked in the loose tunic and laced the flowy top up enough for his comfort. The pants rubbed him in all the wrong places and he wished for underwear. 

Soobin went off into one of the three exits from the cavern and hoped he’d find a way out or maybe the dragon to yell at it before he was burnt to a crisp. The cave walls were lined with enough torches to see, so he didn’t trip on any of the divots in the stone. He finally came into a smaller cavern that honestly looked bizarre. It was a bedroom, for a human. The middle of the cavern held a large bed with furs and pillows. There was an old, battered wardrobe and hastily installed shelves that were crooked. Mismatched chairs sat close to a fire pit, small chests and boxes were stacked against the cave wall, and one ginormous trunk was at the foot of the bed, under lock and key. There were an odd assortment of things on the shelves, books, trinkets, gems, some sort of horn, and jewelry was hanging off the sides. 

“There you are” the voice from his head was speaking out loud now. Soobin turned on his heel and stood in shock. It was a man, not much shorter than himself with a lean body draped in cloth and jewelry. He was breathtaking with pouty lips and slightly upturned eyes that were deep brown. His hair was about the same length as Soobins and beautifully colored. It was purple at the roots and ombréd into blue. Just like the dragons scales.

“You’re the dragon” it was probably a dumb thing to say to someone who already knew who he was, but the fact that there was a dragon who could turn into a human was a lot to take in. Hell, just a dragon was a lot to take in. 

“I am Yeonjun, a dragon shifter” he said. Soobin nodded, dumbly at the pretty man. He had multiple piercings in his ears, each with a different earring hanging off of it. 

“Why did you tattoo me?” Soobin probably should have made himself sound angry instead of confused. Yeonjun glanced at the spot on Soobins chest where the tattoo was. The dragon then pushed aside some of the cloth over his chest and showed a matching tattoo. 

“These are soul bonds”

“You bonded me? What is that, marriage?” He squeaked. The dragon shifter sighed. 

“I’ll explain while you eat, you’ve been out for days” he said. Soobin felt strange following a human dragon around a system of caves until they landed in an area with a fire pit and a spit over it. There were uneven shelves in this cavern as well, spices and jars of jam lined the walls. There was something bubbling in a pot hanging above the fire and it smelled heavenly. Yeonjun grabbed a rough looking wooden bowl and poured some of the stew(?) into the bowl. After watching the dragon eat some, Soobin tried a bit and spit it out as soon as he did. 

“Is it not good?” The shifters eyes widened in surprise. 

“My tongue is burnt” Soobin complained. Yeonjun chuckled and walked over to another small pool where he took another bowl to scoop up the water. Soobin eyed the bowl with scrutiny because was that where he gets his water?

“It’s clean, don’t worry” the dragon said as he handed it over to him. Soobin was pretty thirsty and honestly, if this was a dream and he died, he could just wake up with a cramp in his neck from falling asleep at his desk. So he drank the cool water and was pleasantly surprised that it tasted like normal water he could get at a drinking fountain. Soobin hadn’t noticed how thirsty and hungry he really was. Yeonjun watched him as he devoured the stew and finished off the bowl of water.

“Where are you from, human?”

“Ansan” he answered, then shrugged. “But I live in Seoul now”

“Earth, then” the dragon pondered. Yeah, earth you weirdo dragon. Oh no.

“I’m not on earth?” he asked calmly. The dragon shook his head. “Jesus christ” what the fuck was next?

“I don’t know what that means” Yeonjun said. “But there is more, it isn’t often we get travelers from different planes-”

“Wait, if I’m not on earth, how can you be speaking Korean?” Soobin interrupted the dragon man. Yeonjun sighed.

“I’m explaining everything. This plane is called Veloria, the plane you come from is earth”

“Okay, what exactly is a plane?” Soobin was honestly trying to take this all in without fainting again, but what even in the fuck was going on.

“We all exist in the same place, in the same time, but on different worlds so to speak. It’s like different layers, separated by wall. There are five planes of existence and this one is where magic lives. Yours is where technology develops. Each plane has something that makes it unique and separates it from the others.”

“Okay” he might kind of get it, “Then how did I get here if our planes are separated?”

“There are rare instances of crossing planes, but over time, it has gotten harder and harder for planes to open to other planes. My ancestors used to travel to your world thousands of years ago, which is how your people know what dragons are. Over time it became harder to do so, no one really understands why”

“So, if I’m from the plane of technology, and you are from the plane of magic, what are the other three planes?”

“There are the planes of life, death, and elements. Not much is known on them here but the plane of life is said to be the most beautiful plane, the plane of death is where all our answers are, and the plane of the elements combines magic and technology”

“I think I’m going to pass out again” Soobin’s chest felt tight and his head felt muddy with all this unbelievable information he was being fed. Yeonjun carefully placed his hands on Soobin’s cheeks and if he wasn’t already overwhelmed, he fucking was now with the definition of ‘gay awakening’ holding his face. Suddenly, that tension in his chest was lifted and his head wasn’t pounding nearly as bad. “Was that magic?”

“No, that was our soul bond, when a dragon finds its mate, they develop an instant soul bond”

“Mate, like marriage?” Soobin couldn’t help but blush at the idea of marrying the pretty man in front of him. He had known he was gay for years, but never entertained the idea of marriage when gay marriage wasn’t legal in Korea.

“Yes, a partner forever, you are the only one allowed to ride my dragon form, be allowed in my cave, and share my life” Yeonjun didn’t seem phased by any of the news he was giving Soobin.

“I’m your husband?” Was Soobin married to a dragon now?

“I don’t know what a husband is, but we are mates in the romantic, spiritual, and physical manner” Jesus, the cave was getting hotter.

“Shit, this is all overwhelming” Soobin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Does that mean I’m stuck here?” Yeonjun bit his lower lip and nodded, not meeting Soobin’s gaze.

“I have no idea of how you would be able to get back”

  
  
  
  


It’s strange to be married to someone you didn’t know. Dramas always portrayed married couples as either fighting to the death or so in love they would run into traffic together. Apparently there was the third, lesser known option of one awkwardly avoiding the other because he’s a fucking dragon from another plane of existance. So, yeah. Soobin has been doing a lot of coping with his new situation. It had only been a day since he woke up, but he found that he didn’t hate the idea of being Yeonjun’s mate. Maybe it was some sort of instinctual result of the soul bond, but didn’t feel angry at being unwillingly married. It sounds horrible, and Soobin would have been beyond pissed normally because that’s a horrible thing to do to a person but how could he be mad at Yeonjun when it wasn’t his fault either.

In fact, the dragon had been nothing but kind to him the past day. He let Soobin have his space, cooked for him, and even gave him some books written in Korean by the dragon ancestors to better explain his new plane. Apparently, it wasn’t just dragons in Veloria. There were nymphs, sirens, and even descendants of human travelers. Soobin also found out that there weren’t any pure humans in this realm, as they had long ago left or intermingled. Dragons also seemed a rarity, with low birth rates. He didn’t have to worry about that though, thank god neither he or Yeonjun had to carry some half human half dragon for god knows how long. Dragon’s had old magic, based in nature unlike more modern beings in the plane. The more common species were mages, wizards, werewolves, and the such. Nymphs, dragons, and sirens were reclusive, and therefore rarer to see. If Soobin hadn’t been on the verge of a panic attack all day, he would have thought this information was interesting. 

Soobin wanted to know what he was supposed to be doing now. He had no school duties anymore, no stress of finding a job out of university and living paycheck to paycheck. He just was now. In a strange place, where he knew no one, and a dragon he was married to. What did a dragon’s mate do? Hell, what did dragons do? Collect treasure maybe. Was he going to spend the rest of his days being a treasure hunter or living in this cave.

_ “I can feel how lost you are, is there something I can do?” _ Yeonjun’s voice was in his head again. Oh yeah, how the hell was he supposed to do that? Soobin decided that if he was stuck here, he might as well know more about this place. It took a while of trying to navigate the caves to find where Yeonjun might be. There were a lot more ‘rooms’ in this system of caves then he would’ve thought. Finally he found the dragon lounging on his bed and it was probably bad for Soobin’s health how good he looked. Yeonjun was laid out on the bed like he was trying to seduce Soobin. He rested on his side, showing off the contrast between his broad shoulders and small waist. The shifter rested his head on his hand, eyes closed and lips pouting. Worst of all, he slept in the bare minimum of nothing but some fur over his toned legs, resting low on his hips.

“Holy shit” he breathed out, ears flaming. Soobin couldn’t look away from the beautiful gold tattoo on his chest, leading down to subtle abs. He looked like something out of Soobin’s pubescent wet dreams. Yeonjun opened his eyes at the noise and smiled lazily.

“You’re here, what is it that’s bothering you?” Yeonjun sat up, letting the fur shift to show more of his hip. Suddenly Soobin’s mind was blank. What had been bothering him… oh nothing important, just the meaning of his existence now. He needed to focus.

“I- um, am just confused about the soul bond” he blushed. The dragon nodded and laid himself back against the pillows. Okay, that position wasn’t any better.

“The soul bond enhances our senses towards each other, like speaking through our minds, being more sensitive to each other's emotions, it’s to make us more effective lovers” Soobin might drop dead if he keeps this up.

“How do I speak back to you in my head?” He felt like he was splitting his mind between dirty thoughts about his husband and his actual questions. It was distracting, insanely. 

“Just project what you want me to hear, yesterday I could hear you ask me to ‘shut up’ whatever that means” Soobin blushed, embarrassed and a little turned on. He decided to try it.

_ “Like this?” _ he tried a couple times, but Yeonjun didn’t react.  _ “Jesus, I wish you would put clothes on” _ he thought desperately. Yeonjun smiled.

_ “You don’t like my body?” _ his voice was teasing.

_ “It’s distracting” _ he might be getting the hang of this because Yeonjun chuckled and stood up. Soobin went a little light headed looking at Yeonjun in all his beautifully naked glory. He was quick to turn his head away while the shifter rummaged around. 

“Some of the things you say confuse me” Yeonjun said, walking into Soobin’s view and fully clothed. “But I assume I will figure your foreign words out one day”

“What am I supposed to be doing?” Soobin finally asked what was on his mind. “On my plane, I was studying, getting by day to day. Now that I’m here, I have nothing… and no idea what I’m supposed to be doing with myself”

“I wanted you to rest and let this all sink in before I introduce you to the world. The truth is that I am one of a handful of dragons left in the world. Mages have been hunting us for hundreds of years, using our blood, scales, our everything to make powerful magic. Your new life might not be as safe as your old one was”

“Fantastic” Soobin grumbled.

“But we live far from where they can get us, our home is safe and you are safe with me. Mates protect each other with their lives and I plan to do just that” Yeonjun declared, eyes fierce. Soobin felt more reassured since his mate was a fucking ten thousand pound dragon who could breathe fire.

“So we just hide away in your cave?” he asked. Yeonjun gently grabbed his hand and led him off one of the tunnels. It wasn’t long before they stood at a small opening. The cave was up high, and overlooked a beautiful valley of colorful trees and clear rivers. It was probably the most beautiful view he had ever seen.

“No, this may be our home, but dragons live to explore. For years I have gathered treasure and traveled, now I can take you on adventures with me” Yeonjun gripped his hand and brought it to his lips. Soobin could have blamed his shiver at the wind, but Yeonjun probably knew it was from the way his soft lips felt on his skin.

“If we’re mates…” He hesitated, biting his lip and taking a deep breath. “Shouldn’t we know each other better?”

“Of course darling”

  
  


Yeonjun was surprisingly adorable for a dragon. If he wanted Soobin to do something, he’d send flying kisses, dance cutely, get super close to his face, anything that would make Soobin a flustered mess. If Soobin made fun of him, his cute pout would melt his poor human heart. He was also funny, knowing how to make Soobin smile if he was sad or felt homesick. Overall, his first few weeks on this new plane had him falling head over heels in love with a dragon.

Yeonjun was sweet, playful, caring, and so many good things. Honestly, even things one might find as a fault felt perfect to him. Yeonjun would boss him around with cooking, but the food would always turn out better. The dragon would get annoyed sometimes, he would too, but they never had to say anything. Their bond was solid enough for the other to comfort him and know what to do. It was strange to think that soulmates were a thing and he had one. But wasn’t that what this was?

_ “Binnie, where’s the soap?” _

_ “Oh I forgot to get a new bar, one second” _ he hopped off his makeshift bed. He had been staying in a small cavern that Yeonjun had used for storage. Dragons were notoriously territorial of their homes, so Yeonjun never had guests over, hence no extra bed. They had thrown together some extra furs for him to lay on. It wasn’t a bad setup, but there were nights he longed to cuddle Yeonjun on his comfy bed. Their relationship had been progressing slowly. Hell, they haven’t even kissed yet and they were basically married. The past month had been spent getting to know each other, confined to their cave. Yeah, Soobin went from living in an apartment to living in a cave. What about it?

He opened the chest where the bars of soap were kept and grabbed the last one. Soobin had become a lot more familiar with the system of caves he now called home. In fact, he could probably find his way blindfolded, with minimal tripping. Making his way to the room he first woke up in, he found his ethereal mate lounging in the shallow water. Yeonjun was like the forbidden fruit, always in front of him, tempting him.

“It was the last bar we had” he tried to ignore the beautiful man in front of him.

“We can make a trip sometime to get more” Yeonjun got out of the bath, water dripping down his body. These teasing acts were really messing with his dick and his head, but mostly his dick. Even the way he walked over to Soobin was sexy. The shifter grabbed the soap from Soobin’s hand and grasped it. “Thank you Binnie”

Soobin was quick to get out of there before he suffocated on his own feelings. It would be easier if he wasn’t so infatuated with Yeonjun, maybe then he could act like a normal human around him. Unfortunately, Yeonjun was the most beautiful living thing he had ever encountered, so you could say he was doing an okay job at keeping it all together.

The human sighed, getting back to his research. Soobin was trying to figure out how he was even able to travel to this plane. He had gone over the oldest books Yeonjun had, trying to find out any information he could on plane traveling. It was taking him forever because the texts were written when chinese characters were still the alphabet used by Koreans and his ancient chinese was non-existent. Mostly he was relying on Yeonjun to help him. Thankfully, there were some books written in Hangul, so he was fortunate enough to read through those just in case. Most of them were about the war a couple hundred years ago with the dragons and mages that almost wiped out both races. Mages had shorter lives but produced more children than dragons, so they had quickly reproduced while the dragons were slow to do so and were at an all time low.

The more he read about the war, the more he understood how similar it had been to previous wars on his plane. Soobin’s great grandfather would sometimes talk to him about the war that separated to Korean peninsula, the things he had seen done. There were passages in some of these books that held similar atrocities. He guessed war was a constant no matter if you had magic or not.

His favorite book so far had contained sketches of beautiful landscapes all across the plane. There were cities made of ice that winter species lived in. Forests of fairies and pixies that used their magic to make their homes bloom. Underwater coral reefs where sirens swam around, mouths open in song. Each page held another world of unimaginable beauty. It was such a contrast to the books describing the war.

“Soobin, do you want to go down to the forest with me?” Yeonjun’s voice shocked him out of his stupor. The dragon had gotten dressed in a simpler outfit, something that looked more comfortable for travel.

“How far is it?” he asked.

“Just down the mountain, no one lives there, we’re too far away from cities to entice nymphs or fae” he smiled softly, almost like he was expecting Soobin to laugh at his suggestion. Instead, the younger nodded and smiled brightly.

“I’ve been wanting to leave the cave” he admitted. Yeonjun laughed and held out his hand. Soobin gratefully took it, excited to see more of this plane than just their cave. They walked to one of the two cave openings, it was on the edge of a steep cliff that had to be thousands of meters up. “How do we get down?” he was trying not to shiver at the harsh winds.

“Binnie, I’m a dragon” Yeonjun chuckled and began to strip off his clothes, much to Soobin’s dismay. “Hold on to these for me?”

“Am I riding you?” he was excited at the prospect of riding a dragon. It sounded exhilarating to be able to fly. Yeonjun just smiled and took a few steps back before running forwards off the edge, plummeting down.

Soobin screamed and fell onto the floor. Yeonjun just jumped off a cliff, naked. Seconds later though, a giant deep blue and purple dragon soared into view, leveling out across from Soobin. The human clutched his heart and glared at the familiar dragon.

“What the hell?!” he pouted. Yeonjun’s dragon form snorted in what must’ve been laughter and slowly moved closer to him, turning so his back was close enough for Soobin to climb on. He took a deep breath to steady himself because he was about to climb on a dragon’s back with no protection if he fell off. He had no one to guide him on how to ride a dragon.

_ “Binnie, I won’t drop you, come on” _ Yeonjun urged him. Soobin let out a shaky breath and decided to bite the bullet. He leaped off the edge and for a second he was falling freely, heart clenching. That feeling was gone the moment he landed on the surprisingly smooth scales of his mate. Quick to try and find some way to hold on, Soobin grabbed onto two of the protruding scales around Yeonjun’s neck. He tucked the clothes under his body and held on for dear life. Yeonjun took pity on him and they descended slowly, just enough for his hair to whip in the wind, but not tear his face off. It was only moments before they were on the ground and part of him was disappointed because that had been the most exciting moment of his life.

He forgot about that disappointment when he looked around the forest. It was filled with the purple leaves and magical floating lights he remembered from his first day in this plane. Without the fear of being eaten by a dragon, he could fully appreciate the different purple hues and how some of the lights were larger than others. Yeonjun shifted his body so Soobin could slide off. The human took a few steps back, admiring his surroundings and clutching the clothes in his hand.

“I’m almost jealous of the trees” Yeonjun chuckled next to him. Soobin started, he didn’t realize the dragon had shifted into his human form. Now his mate was centimeters away, and naked. The younger was quick to hand him his clothes, hoping they both ignored the heat creeping up his neck. Politely, the human turned away to allow his mate some privacy. Yeonjun grabbed his hand, “I want you to see something”.

As he was being dragged along, Soobin couldn’t help but pay much attention to his surroundings. He had been stuck in a cave for weeks after all. The shades of purple were beautiful and reminded him of Yeonjun’s hair. They walked along the light green grass, flowers scattered around their path. Neon blue flowers as big and his palm rested close to the ground. He noticed they came in many hues like the leaves. It reminded him of Yeonjun’s hair again. Yeonjun stopped him at the edge of a pond, the water was bright turquoise, sparkling with the reflection of the fairy lights.

“I was on my way back from swimming in this pond when I saw you the first time” Yeonjun said, still gripping Soobin’s hand. “I knew right away you were my mate, you were so scared but I was mesmerized by you. I don’t think I’ve ever told you how old I am, but in my 93 years of living, I had never seen someone so captivating”

“You’re 93?” Soobin stared at his mate, wide eyed. Yeonjun laughed brightly and nodded.

“In your human years, I am just one year older than you” he let out a small chuckle and squeezed the younger’s hand. “Binnie, I wanted you to get to know me before I told you that I am so in love with you”

Soobin felt overwhelmed. Here he was, standing in the most beautiful place known to mankind with the most gorgeous man known in all the planes, admitting his feelings. And god did he feel the same. God he really felt the fucking same.

“Jesus christ I feel the same” he pulled Yeonjun’s hand until the shifter was flush against him. “Hyung, you are the most adorable, kind, funny, and sexist person I’ve ever known”

“There’s a tradition among dragon’s and their mates. When they have fallen in love, there is a ceremony performed and I can think of no other place I would rather perform it” Yeonjun was almost whispering against Soobin’s lips.

“What is this ritual?” was all he could think to say.

“Darling, I’ll show you everything you need to know” Yeonjun closed their gap and Soobin felt like he was on another level of existence. Soobin has kissed and been kissed before but he wasn’t just touching lips with his mate, he was connecting with him. It felt like he could feel every inch of Yeonjun’s body through their kiss. Sadly, that feeling left when his mate pulled back. 

“We’ve started the ritual” he whispered, brown eyes staring intently into his. 

“Was that magic?”

“It was our bond, we’re in tune with each other physically and spiritually darling” Yeonjun’s eyes shifted down to the humans lips. “You’re irresistible”

“What’s next?” He felt like he was inching closer to Yeonjun, but the older was leaning away. 

“This time, I ride you”

He was completely fucked. 


	2. Blue Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Yeonjun sick, Soobin is desperate to help him in any way he can.

“Babe if you don’t get up right now, I won’t suck your dick for a month” Soobin was getting tired of his beautiful dragon lazing about in bed. 

“I’m dying Binnie” the fluff of purple and blue hair was sticking out of the furs on their bed. “My fire and my stomach are arguing”

“Hyung, I don’t know what that means” Soobin sighed and sat down on the bed next to his mate. It was only three months ago that Soobin somehow transported from his plane on Earth to Veloria. He found his soulmate, yeah actual thing over here with dragons. It was still taking some getting used to life with a mate who was so different from him. 

“There’s a gland in my stomach that allows me to breath fire, I need you to get me a fænerla root” Yeonjun shivered visibly under the piles of fur. 

“A what?” Soobin wasn’t exactly familiar with the flora of his new home, given he spent most of his time in a cave kilometers above any land. 

“The blue flowers in the forest, I should have the roots of one in my apothecary” he shivered again and groaned. “Please hurry babe”

Soobin never had to take care of another sick person in his life. Hell he didn’t even know how to care for a functioning human. But the pain in his husband's voice was enough to set him off. Yeah, he called his mate his husband, judge the fuck away. Soobin ran through their system of tunnels until he reached the elders' apothecary. He really hoped fæneria translated into Korean. His eyes were darting around the shelves of dried herbs and such. Finally he found a dried up looking blue flower that resembled his memory of a fæneria. Grabbing the bottle, he stumbled over a fallen book but still managed to keep upright as he ran to his mate. 

“Do you just need to eat it?” He asked, out of breath as he almost fell onto their bed. Yeonjun popped his head out of the furs and nodded, grabbing the bottle and struggling with the cork. 

“Help” the shivering dragon batted his eyelashes at Soobin, why was he so cute even when he was sick. Fucking unfair. He gently took the bottle and popped the cork off, tipping the bottle so the pieces of dried up flower fell into his hands. Yeonjun was quick to literally eat it from the palm of his hands. The shifter shuddered and fell over on Soobin’s lap. 

“Babe?!” He asked in alarm. 

“I’m fine, please just cuddle me” Yeonjun pouted up at him. Soobin sighed in relief and nodded. He shifted his mate around so he could get under the furs with him. Soobin laid the elder down on his chest, watching the dragon drift off into sleep. He smiled, watching how Yeonjun’s pouty lips seemed to get poutier with his cheek squished. The younger played with his husband's hair, letting his fingers comb through the strands. Honestly, he never dreamed he would be able to love someone so utterly perfect for him. He held in a chuckle as Yeonjun snuggled into his shirt. God he was so lucky. 

  
  


He woke up to a sweating Yeonjun shivering against him. Soobin was quick to check his temperature (too hot even for a dragon) and gently shook his mate awake. 

“Hyung” he dragged his mate up. 

“Binnie, I need more fæneria” his eyes were hazy, body shivering. “I don’t-“ he groaned, “I don’t have anymore, I need you to go down to the forest”

“How am I supposed to get down there?”

“There’s a ladder” he winced and buried his face into Soobins stomach. “Darling, off the main ledge I installed it just in case, undo the bindings and climb down”

“Okay, Hyung hang in there, okay? Do you need anything before I go?” Yeonjun shook his head. 

“I need sleep” he whimpered. Soobin felt useless looking at his mate in pain. Again, running his ass off, Soobin got his mate a bowl of water and a piece of bread in case he was hungry when he woke up again and set it on the table by his side of the bed. The human grabbed a knife from their closet and stuck it on his belt, attaching a pouch to the other side. 

“Hold on Junnie” he whispered as he kissed his mate's forehead. He walked urgently over to the main ledge and sure enough found a large roll of planks and rope tied together into a ladder. He quickly undid the bindings and rolled the end off the ledge. It wasn’t long before it completely unraveled. Taking a deep breath, Soobin climbed over the edge and began to work his way down the ladder as fast as he could. 

Maybe it was some kind of magic but he was on the ground in minutes, running off into the forest to find the blue flowers his mate needed. He was quick to trip over a tree root and land on his shoulder. 

“Fucking hell” he groaned, holding his shoulder. Soobin moved it around a little bit before getting back up. 

“Are you okay?” A voice asked. Soobin jumped, not expecting anyone else. In his past three months he only saw or talked to Yeonjun, to be honest he was pretty sure no one lived in their forest or else he might be embarrassed about the things he’s done in there. He turned around, finding an adorable boy standing by a tree. His hair was the color of bark and his eyes matched. His skin was pale and he was about as tall as Soobin was with a prominent nose. He was very pretty and had an innocent charm to his eyes. 

“Yes, sorry I’m kind of in a hurry-“ he said, already moving to leave, mind on his sick husband. 

“Are you looking for something?” 

“I need a fæneria or a couple-“

“You want to steal from the forest?” The boy didn’t sound so innocent anymore, posture becoming defensive. 

“No! I don’t want to but I really need some, it’ll be like two flowers, I just need to find some…” he took off, leaving the angry boy behind him. Distractions weren’t what he needed right now, he needed to help Yeonjun. 

“You can’t!” The boy grabbed his hurt shoulder, making Soobin wince. “You can’t steal from the forest”

“The flowers will grow back, if I remember there are some over here” he turned on the forest path but before he could take a step there was a sharp pain in his head and he blacked out. 

  
  


God his head felt like someone fucking stomped on it. He groaned, neck aching. When he opened his eyes he saw that boy standing across from him. Wait did that kid knock him out? Soobin tried to move his legs but found himself stuck. He looked down and saw he was tied to a tree with vines. What even the fuck was this? God it was straight out of a Batman vs. Poison Ivy fight. 

“Why did you tie me up?” He glared at the boy. 

“You can’t steal from this forest” he declared. Soobin let out an agitated sigh. How long was he out? Was Yeonjun okay? 

_ “Babe? Are you awake?”  _ He waited for any response and when there was none he grew more restless. 

“I just need two flowers, what the hell! I’ve picked a flower off the ground here before!” He yelled, frustrated he was trapped against a tree while his mate was in delirious pain. Did he still have his knife? Maybe he could cut his way out. No that kid would notice. Plus he can’t even budge his arm, how could he grab his knife.

“Maybe before I came here but now you can’t” he said and walked away. Soobin yelled a combination of swear words that he couldn’t even replicate just seconds after yelling it. 

_ “Yeonjun! Please wake up! Please I’m trapped and I can’t get your flowers, please wake up”  _ he wanted to cry at what a useless mate he was. God why was he a human in a world of magic? If he was a dragon like Yeonjun he could easily burn these vines off. How could he even be considered a mate if he couldn’t do one simple task to help ease Yeonjun’s pain. Everything was beyond frustrating and he couldn’t help the tears slipping past his eyes. 

“Please” he whimpered. Hoping anyone would help him, at least free him from these vines. Soobin could hear the whimpers of pain Yeonjun had let out, could see him clench his eyes shut in pain. 

“Are you crying?” The boy was back, looking confused. Soobin wanted to punch his adorable little face in. 

“I’m trapped to a fucking tree for god knows how long with some kid mocking me when I need to be getting flowers!” He spat out. The kid huffed. 

“I’m not a kid and you don’t need those flowers! You want to steal them and sell them!” He accused. Soobin stared at the child incredulously. 

“Why the fuck why I want to sell flowers? I need to use them on my sick husband”

“What’s a husband?” The boy asked, innocent eyes back. Soobin had no ounce of patience left in him. 

“My husband. Partner. Lover. Boyfriend. Mate. I don’t care what you call it, he is sick!” He screamed. The boy rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not falling for some petty trick”

“It’s not some trick! He’s in pain and I’m trapped against a fucking tree because some kid doesn’t want me to pick flowers!”

“I am the protector of this forest” the boy said. He clenched his jaw. “This is my home and I will not let some nature ruining mage destroy it!”

“I’m not a mage! I’m just trying to pick two flowers not burn down the forest! I love this forest!” Soobin grunted, struggling against the tight vines cutting off the circulation to his feet. 

“If you love this forest why would you steal from it?” The boy tsked. Soobin opened his mouth to shout in desperation when suddenly his body fell to the ground, knees breaking his fall. He snapped his head up, wanting to yell some more at the stupid kid who couldn’t get his head around the fact that Soobin just wanted to help his mate. However, what he saw made any words or anger disappear. 

It was Seoul. He was kneeling on the edge of the sidewalk, looking up at a digital billboard for whitening cream. Cars were passing by, one honking and making him fall over at the sudden noise. He hadn’t heard a car horn in forever. Soobin stared around in amazement. How was he back here?

Wait, Yeonjun! Fuck how could he get back. Soobin stood up quickly, looking around frantically hoping to find something to help him get back to his mate. All he saw were phones out pointing at him and whispers of teenage girls. He belatedly realized he was dressed in black leather laced up trousers with a billowing lace up shirt tucked into them. He was dressed like a fucking pirate without the hat and eye patch. 

“Oh my god, why is he showing so much chest? Is that a tattoo?” One girl whispered. 

“Is this some kind of drama? Where are the cameras?” Another asked. Suddenly another girl gasped. 

“He’s bleeding!” She whispered to her friends, eyes looking at his forehead. Soobin brought a hand to his forehead and pulled it away, seeing blood. 

“That fucking kid” he muttered to himself and wiped the blood off on his shirt, quickly trying to figure out where he was. The restaurant across the street was familiar to him. He had gone there once with his roommates, they had walked. He wasn’t far from his apartment. Quickly getting a hang of himself, Soobin ran right across traffic, barely dodging some cars and ignoring the gasps and yells of the girls filming him. Just a few blocks away. 

Soobin ignored any looks he got as he ran to his apartment, skipping up several sets of stairs at a time. He made it to the seventh floor and almost ran right into an opening door. Bowing in apology to whoever, he moved down to the familiar numbered door. 

“4-3-1-9” he pressed the code in and was grateful to see it open. He ran over to his old room and found many of his things were gone. The mess he probably left was cleaned up and only a few things were left. 

When he went back, he would be prepared this time. Soobin grabbed his old backpack and stuffed underwear in it, some of his comfier clothes, an empty water bottle, and socks. Taking a picture of him and his sister, Soobin ran to the bathroom. He shoved everything from their first aid kit into the backpack, taking random bottles of pills just in case. The human wasn’t even thinking of anything past getting back to his mate. Food, he didn’t know how to cook, if Yeonjun was sick he needed to make him food. Scavenging the kitchen, he shoved packets of ramen down, trying to make room in the packed bag. He shoved snacky foods into the pockets.

Not knowing what else he needed nor having the mind to think of anything past Yeonjun, Soobin focused on their bond. He could still feel it, feel his mate connected to him. How did he get here earlier? That kid had him tied to a tree and they were yelling at each other. Did making himself angry do this? If so he was plenty angry already, frustrated he couldn’t get back to Yeonjun, desperate to help him. He couldn’t stand the pain he saw on that beautiful face. Wanting to collapse and cry again, he blinked rapidly to clear his eyes and lost his breath. 

Veloria. He was back in the forest, purple leaves rustling in the wind. Soobin didn’t know how he did it but he could figure it out later, he needed those flowers. Once again whipping his head around like a fool, he couldn’t stop the smile grace his face when he spotted a small bunch of blue flowers. The bruised and bloody human dove for the flowers, careful and quick to tear them roots and all from the earth. 

“No!” Soobin was knocked sideways, the boy from earlier pinning him down on the dirt. “You’ve killed those flowers!”

“I just-“

“What is it with you mages?! You plunder and destroy beautiful forests and meadows for your potions and profiteering!” The kid punched him in the face. Soobin lost all sense of his direction for a moment, jaw blooming in pain. 

“My mate-“ he just wanted this kid to understand his plight. What was a couple of flowers to the pain and suffering of his mate, one of the last dragons on this plane. 

“No! Stop trying to lie to me! You mages displace thousands of fairies, pixies, and nymphs with your destruction! Why can’t you leave us alone!”

“I don’t want to destroy this forest” he groaned, chest heaving with the weight of this kid. 

“Then why have you killed those flowers if not to destroy this forest?” The kids' eyes were burning with anger. 

“Yeonjun is suffering” he wheezed. “My mate is in pain and the only way I can help him is to feed him these flowers”

“I know you’re lying! Fæneria doesn’t have any healing properties” 

“Isn’t the forest supposed to be the center of healing? Doesn’t it provide the supplies needed to cure disease and save lives?” He remembered a passage on that from one of Yeonjun’s books. If this kid was a nymph like he believed, he would know this. 

“And I told you those flowers have no healing properties” the boy grunted, clearly annoyed. Soobin really wanted this kid off his chest, he might pass out again at this rate. 

“Come with me” he pleaded. “I’ll show you my mate, show you how I use these flowers, you can take my knife, use it as leverage, kill me if I’m lying just please let me help him. Yeonjun is all I have” if this didn’t work he had nothing left, he wouldn’t be able to get back to his husband and the dragon would just get worse and worse. The kid seemed to ponder on it then nodded, taking the knife from its place on Soobins belt. 

“I will not hesitate mage” the boy held the knife out as he got off Soobin. The human took a couple of deep breaths, glad to have that weight off his chest, literally. He carefully put the flowers in his pouch and grabbed the backpack that had been kicked away in their scuffle. “Your bag is interesting”

“It’s supposed to keep books in it” he was careful to lead the boy back to where the ladder was waiting for him, with Yeonjun at the top. 

_ “Babe, I’m coming, please hold on” _ he prayed the shifter could hear him or at least knew what was keeping his mate. 

“Mages” the boy scoffed. At this point, Soobin might as well be a mage with how much this child thought he was one. To be honest, Soobin never got an accurate description on what a mage looked like. “How did you disappear from my vines? No mage can do that”

“I don’t know either, one minute I was trying to yell at you and the next…” he was back on his plane. He hadn’t even thought about his family when he was there, hadn’t wondered if they were worried and looking for him. Did his roommates keep his room empty because they couldn’t find a roommate or because they thought he was coming back?

“Where did you go?”

“A loud place” bustling with cars and technology, a place where a forest like this couldn’t exist with human greed. “When did you move to this forest, I’ve never seen you before”

“Not even a week ago” the boy sounded sad, heartbroken even. Soobin decided not to push because, well the kid had a knife. They finally arrived at the ladder and the kid grabbed his aching shoulder, making Soobin flinch. 

“What is this?” He demanded. “A trick?”

“No, we live above, in the caves” he said, hoping his sincerity was showing. The boy once again took a precious moment Soobin could be using to help his mate, to ponder. 

“Fine, but you go up first and remember I will stab your leg if you try anything funny” he said. Soobin was quick to start climbing up the ladder. He let out a sigh of relief at the fact that the climb seemed just as short as the descent had been, the best thing for his aching head and shoulder. He crawled over the edge and leaned down to lend a hand to the boy, hoping it would show some good faith between the two. The kid shoved his hand away though and crawled over the edge like he had. Soobin was quick to take off to his bedroom. The boy was right on his heels as Soobin practically fell over himself to get to his mate. 

“Yeonjun!” He called out, hoping to wake the sleeping dragon. Finally his mate was in view, sweating, pale, shivering under his furs. He hadn’t moved from where Soobin had left him. “Hyung! I’m back, please wake up” he threw the backpack away and sat on the bed, hauling the shifter up to rest on his good shoulder. 

“Binnie?” His eyes opened slightly. Soobin smiled widely in relief.

“I’ve got the flowers, how many do you need?”

“Just one more” his voice was raspier than normal, making Soobin fumble around to separate one flower from the bunch. He held it up to tip it into his mates mouth. Soobin reached for the water he left behind and waited patiently for his Hyung to swallow the flower. Holding the bowl up to Yeonjun’s lips, he watched happily to see the elder drink a good portion of it. 

“I might have something to help your fever, one second babe” he let his hand cool Yeonjun’s cheek for a moment before reaching for the bag. He dug around and found a pain and fever reliever. Yeonjun took one of the pills without question, relaxing into his mate's hold and falling asleep once again. 

“You weren’t lying” he was almost startled by the boy's voice. Soobin had been so focused on Yeonjun that he forgot about the kid standing to the side. 

“Thank you for believing me” he felt like he could finally breathe with Yeonjun safely in his arms, peacefully sleeping. 

“My name is Huening Kai, I’m a nymph from the western forests” he introduced himself as he set Soobins knife on a nearby shelf. 

“I’m Soobin and this is my mate, Yeonjun” he could finally smile at the boy. 

“You really aren’t a mage?” He asked curiously. 

“No, I am a human and my mate is a dragon”

“A human and a dragon?” Huening Kai’s eyes lit up, innocent curiosity back. Soobin nodded. “I thought humans all left or intermarried hundreds of years ago”

“I wasn’t born on this plane, I’m from the human plane. One day I somehow traveled here and met Yeonjun” he said, brushing the dragons damp hair out of his face. 

“That explains why there would be anyone this far away from civilization” the boy said. Soobin shifted his husband so he was laying down on the pillows, furs carefully placed over him. 

“Why did you move to this forest if it’s so far from civilization?” He wondered. The nymph pursed his lips. 

“My forest, the one I was born and raised in was destroyed by mages, my father and mother both got burned down while trapped in their trees. My sisters and I barely escaped, they went to live with our aunts but I wanted away from other people. A forest that was my own” the boy shifted awkwardly on his feet. 

“I’m glad to have you protecting the forest, you pack quite the punch” Soobin chuckled, letting any anger he had at the boy settle now that he helped his mate. 

“I’m sorry, nymphs are typically non violent but my sister taught me how to fight after we lost our home” he blushed. Now that he had lost the anger and hatred from his face, Soobin could see how young he was. Definitely younger than Yeonjun and himself. 

“Are you hungry?” He asked, hoping to make amends. Huening Kai nodded. 

“I’ve mostly been eating berries, I can’t hunt much” he admitted. Soobin smiled fondly and adjusted the pillow beneath his husband's head before climbing out of the bed and looking through his backpack for the ramen he took. He motioned for the nymph to follow him into the kitchen area and he put a pot on the boil. 

“I never thought I’d see a human” the kid was looking at Soobin like he was a unicorn. The older guessed he probably was a unicorn on this plane. Wait, did they have unicorns here?

“My mate is a dragon you know” he chuckled in response. The nymph blushed and nodded his head. 

“There aren’t humans on this plane, but there are dragons” he reasoned. Soobin laughed. The two of them talked a bit about their own species and upbringings while Soobin cooked the noodles. 

  
  


“Come on babe, you need to eat” Soobin was supporting the dragon against his chest, ignoring the ache in his shoulder as he tried to get his freshly awakened mate to eat. 

“Binnie” damn his cute pout. Soobin was a weak man. 

“Promise me you’ll eat something?” He asked. The shifters' pretty brown eyes blinked up at him cutely. 

“The bread is fine for now darling” he said, letting his husband feed him the piece of bread by his bedside. “Who’s the kid?”

“That’s Huening Kai, he just moved into the forest” he supplied. Kai stood off to the side once more, awkwardly shifting on his feet. 

“And why are you in pain?” His mate narrowed his eyes, obviously taking note of his bleeding forehead and the way he was prioritizing his good shoulder. 

“That’s my fault, I’m sorry for hurting your mate, I thought he was trying to harm the forest” the boy, despite being taller than Yeonjun, seemed to shrink in on himself. Yeonjun’s eyes turned cold and hard. The pink of his shifted form was coming through. 

“You hurt my mate and then come into my home?” 

“Yes-“

“I could burn you to a crisp where you stand” it was actually adorable to see his mate so angry when his body was so weak. That didn’t seem to occur to Kai, who nodded his head furiously, eyes wide. 

“Babe, give him a break, he was trying to protect his home like I was trying to protect you” Soobin pressed his cheek against the still damp hair of his mate. It successfully soothed him. 

“Fine, only because he likes you” Yeonjun grumbled. The nymph smiled happily. 

  
  


After Soobin made sure Huening Kai got back to the forest safely, he relaxed in bed with his mate. Yeonjun was cuddled into his chest, leg thrown over his own. 

“I don’t know how but I went back to my plane” Soobin admitted. He hoped that the shifter might be able to help him understand what happened. Yeonjun looked up at him with wide eyes. 

“Back to earth?” He asked. Soobin nodded. “What happened?”

“Kai had tied me up when I tried to run away and I was so stressed and just wanted to get out and help you” he explained, smiling when his mate pressed a kiss to his neck. “And one moment I was trying to yell at him, the next I was back on earth, standing in the street”

“Street?”

“It’s like a pathway or trail but bigger” honestly he didn’t need to get into the invention of cars and shit. He wasn’t a fucking engineer okay. “But I recognized where I was and went to my apartment, hoping I had something to help you”

“That thing you had me swallow” the dragon hummed. 

“Yes, we call it a pill. But I grabbed everything I could think of and just kind of focused on you and my connection to you and I was back in the forest” 

“Strange, my ancestors write of traveling between planes as taking time and rituals” if it took so much from magical beings to cross the planes, why had it been so easy for Soobin to do it?

“How am I doing this?” he wondered aloud, making Yeonjun hum in agreement.

“It could be because you’re the most astonishing being on all the planes” his mate nipped at his neck and Soobin blushed. “With the softest skin, I could lay on you all day”

“Hyung, after the day I’ve had, nothing sounds better than you” Soobin smiled at the blush creeping up his husband's neck. God he was adorable.


	3. Orange Clay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys go on a desperately needed vacation.

It’s crazy to him how well Kai and Yeonjun were getting along just days after meeting. Thankfully, the shifter got better very quickly and berated Soobin constantly for not taking care of himself well enough. Trust him, Soobin was very aware that he hadn’t looked after his own health if the massive bruise on his shoulder and nasty cut on his forehead were any indication. Thankfully, the medicine from his own realm was working to ease some of the soreness and pain he was feeling. As an apology to them, Kai had gathered a basket of fruits and vegetables to give them while they had been resting in bed. Yeonjun was now completely enamored with the nymph, for good reason, the kid was adorable.

“Hyung!” Kai jumped on his back, straining his shoulder and making him wince in pain. “Oh, sorry hyung”

“Babe, I told you to relax in the hot water” Yeonjun scolded with an adorable pout to his lips. “Don’t look at me like that, you know it’s good for you” The human sighed and went back to relax in the water his husband had so kindly heated to the boiling point. He needed to sit the dragon down and explain to him how human biology worked because this was a recurring surprise for Soobin.

Yeonjun and Kai were in another alcove of the cave, having fun and he was stuck here alone, too afraid to get into the scalding hot water. Instead, he peeled his shirt off and sat with his back to the still steaming water, letting that work over his muscles instead. He kept going over when he traveled back to his own plane in his head. If he could do it again, maybe he could explain to his family that he wasn’t dead or missing or something. Sometimes he would lay awake listening to his mates cute little snores, wondering how they were feeling or doing. Yeonjun had guessed maybe it had to do with his emotions. Soobin had been so strongly determined to help his husband that he traveled planes. Honestly he didn’t know how that would work.

When his sister died, he had never been so emotionally unbalanced in his life. The way he had been torn apart because of her death was beyond the worry he had for Yeonjun being sick. It sounded horrible even to himself because he was desperately in love with his mate, but when he was sick, a part of him knew that Yeonjun would get better because he  _ was _ going to help. When it came to his sister, there was nothing he could do. Soobin couldn’t pick up a building or fly across the ocean to dig through the rubble himself, it would’ve taken too long. If the desperation he had to help Yeonjun was anything to go by, he would’ve traveled to Veloria when she died.

He sighed, fingers finding comfort in the smoothness of his golden earrings. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. Soobin hadn’t even come out to her and when he first found out his sexuality, he was determined that his sister would be the first one he told but he never got the courage. In his mind, he could imagine her telling him how proud she is, joke with him about cute boys, she might even buy him cute little trinkets that outwardly didn’t mean anything but then she would tell him that the artist was part of the community and wanted to support them. The thought of getting a pair of ugly socks and her explaining that some sweet trans girl was trying to put herself through college or something made him tear up.

Maybe his parents were devastated. When his sister had died, they didn’t seem to react much on the outside. Soobin always thought it had been a shock to them. Their only daughter dying in such a strange way and now their youngest child is missing, probably presumed dead at this point. As a child, he always wanted to understand what his parents thought, the way their minds worked because they had seemed so different from his own. Now more than ever he wished he knew what they were thinking. Did they assume he ran away, was kidnapped, murdered in a ditch somewhere? The whole idea made his chest hurt. 

Soobin was never close to his parents or his brother, but they still raised him. His mother would make seaweed soup for every birthday, his dad taught him how to shave even if he hardly needed it, and his brother was always there to let him in the house when he forgot his key. The happiest memories he had were with his sister but that didn’t mean he didn’t have fond memories with the rest of his family. 

If he did see them again, how the hell would he explain everything that had happened to him. The thought of telling his parents he was living on a different plane of existence with a husband who was a dragon. God any single part of that story would make them faint if they thought it were true. 

Soobin had no plans of going back to his plane permanently, not when he had Yeonjun here. His family might be worried or devastated but if he was given the option to return only if it was permanent, he couldn’t take it. Yeonjun was his most important person now. 

Letting out a sigh, Soobin dipped his finger in the water, deeming it finally cool enough to survive bathing in. Happy that he didn’t have to deal with the pants given to him by Yeonjun anymore, Soobin slid his pants and underwear, praise the lord, off. He slowly sank into the hot water, wincing a bit at the heat but finally settling into a comfortable position. Leaning against the smoothest part of the stone he could find, Soobin let out a sigh at the pain slowly easing from his shoulder. 

“Babe, I could feel your worry” Yeonjun strode into the bathing room, shirt already off to join his mate. Soobin sighed, of course he could feel his worry they had a fucking soul bond. 

“Did you leave Kai unattended?” He joked. Yeonjun rolled his eyes and began to undo the laces on his pants. 

“He left, said something about a sick tree” Yeonjun shrugged. The shifter dipped into the hot water, not even flinching at the heat. He seated himself on Soobins lap. Those gorgeous eyes staring up at him, waiting for him to spill. 

“I’m worried about my family, what they think happened to me, how’re they handling it, I don’t know I just don’t want them to think I’m dead and never find closure because they never find a body” he admitted. Yeonjun pressed a sweet kiss on his lips. 

“We’re going to figure out how you can get back to your plane and talk to your family” 

“What if I get stuck there and can never get back to you?” He felt a hand on his cheek, warm and wet from the water. 

“Soobin, not even separate planes could keep a dragon from their mate” his voice was so firm and decided that Soobin could feel some of his worry drain from his body. 

Soobin never had an ideal type when he was younger, could never create a picture of the perfect human. But now, with Yeonjun staring at him so resolutely and strong and lovingly, he can confirm he doesn’t have a type. He only has Yeonjun. 

“I love you” he whispered against his mates lips. Hands finding his husbands waist, Soobin gently sucked Yeonjun’s lower lip. His fingers slowly moved in circles on the elders hips. 

“Darling you are the best thing that ever happened to me” Yeonjun gasped out when his mate started to roll his hips against him at a painstakingly slow pace. It was probably impossible for the human to ever get sick of the way Yeonjun felt against him, the way his voice sounded, how his lips were in a permanent pout that made nipping at his lips all that much more irresistible.

Yeonjun was quick to take control of his position, something you could always count on with him. He scooted up Soobins lap, letting their dicks rut against each other. The shifter kissed him with so much force his head tilted backwards and Yeonjun was almost shoving his tongue into his mouth. It sent a pang of pleasure up his spine. Soobin was steadily getting harder and harder at the feeling of Yeonjun’s fingers tweaking and teasing his nipples. The delicious way the elders hips rolled against his own. God the way Yeonjun’s dick slid against his had him moaning into his mates mouth. 

“Jun…” he whimpered, pleasure turning into the pain of not being enough. He needed more. Soobin was quick to grip their cocks together and teasingly stroke the both of them in time with their rutting hips. The fire burning in his stomach, desperate to come and make his mate scream in pleasure. 

“Binnie, babe… fuck” Yeonjun gritted his teeth as he pulled his face away, rocking his hips faster, more desperately. Soobin couldn’t help but stare at the man, so fucking beautiful with the dark fire in his eyes, grinding against Soobin in such a way that his finger tips tingles. Twisting his hand slightly, Soobin made sure to put more pressure on the heads of their cocks, making Yeonjun let out beautiful pants of pleasure. 

“Hyung” Soobin moaned as Yeonjun attacked his neck, sucking and grazing his teeth along his throat. The stuttered moan he let out encouraged the elder who covered the hand working their members and slightly squeezed. The new pressure was amazing, his stomach tightening and hips rutting faster in their shared grip. 

“Look at you darling, so beautiful for me” Yeonjun panted as his lips roamed the younger's jaw. Little whimpers escaped Soobin as everything started to become too much. His heart started racing, his hips had a mind of their own as he chased release. 

“Hyung” he whined again, forearms burning but he was too lost in the way Yeonjun felt against him. His mate seemed to sense how close he was and let his thumb rub back and forth between their tips. Hot pleasure washed over him, hips stuttering and hand slowing down to work him through his orgasm. Soobin took a couple of seconds to breathe again and proceeded to lift his mate up onto the edge of the bath. 

Yeonjun still hadn’t come yet. So the younger was quick to spread his mates muscular thighs and place kisses up them. His husband looked ravishing with the water slowly dripping down his body, chest panting, and his dick red and ready to come. 

“Binnie” his thighs shook around Soobins head. Fucking hell if he wasn’t going to give this man the best blowjob he could. The younger swirled his tongue around the sensitive head, basking in the mewls his mate gave in response. Slowly he sunk down on his husbands cock, taking him in inch by inch. Soobin held Yeonjun’s hips down as he felt the familiar discomfort of a dick hitting the back of his throat.

Thankfully Soobin had already come, so he could just focus on making his mate enjoy himself. His tongue wasn’t one to stand idly by and moved side to side under the elders cock as he bobbed his head. Yeonjun grasped at his hair, not pulling too hard but enough for the shifter to have a grip on something. Finally deciding to be merciful, Soobin let go of his mates hips and almost choked when the back of his throat was hit hard by his lovers dick. Knowing how much Yeonjun needed release, he moved along with the thrusts, making sure to tighten his throat and let out hums to make the elders hips stutter in such a cute way. 

Looking up at his mate, Soobin marveled in the sexiness his husband exuded. Yeonjun’s abs were tensed and his lips were swollen. He knew the shifter was close when the pace became erratic. Soobin was quick to take over and focus on the tip, sucking and swirling until the elder moaned sweetly and came in his mouth. 

Now he might not find giving blow jobs the sexiest thing, but the look in Yeonjun’s eyes as he watched his mate swallow and lick his lips. Jesus Christ that look was enough to make his flaccid dick interested again. 

“You…” Yeonjun breathed, leaning his weight on his arms as he tried to come down from his high. “I really love you”

“Me too Junie” he smiled, dragging his husband back into the water. 

“We need a new bath” Yeonjun sighed, snuggling into Soobins hug. The younger chuckled in agreement. 

  
  


He knew Yeonjun was planning something. Soobin didn’t understand the mechanics of their bond all that well but he could feel Yeonjun was hiding something from him. The secret didn’t feel like something the elder was nervous about, more like excited so Soobin waited patiently for his husband to tell him. 

“Hyung, this flower and these leaves in a tea will taste good” Kai said, smiling at the small cuttings he carefully made from the plants. After Soobin had ripped those fæneria from the ground the first time they had met, Kai had given him a lecture on proper ways to take from a plant and not kill it. 

“I didn’t know you made tea mixes” he said, eyes following the nymph as he ground the mixture together in a mortar. The little sprout had been spending a lot of time with them, playing around, cooking, just talking. It was nice to have more than just Yeonjun. 

“Hyung, I’m a nymph, I can do anything involved with plants” he stuck his tongue out. 

“Ladida” Soobin stuck his tongue out back at the kid. Kai chuckled cutely and resumed his mashing. 

“On earth, what kind of teas do you have?” Kai wondered. 

“We have lots of tea on my plane. Our plants are very different from yours though, I don’t know if I could explain their flavors” 

“Which ones do you like?”

“Well, I’m not horribly picky with my tea, but I usually drink a green tea mixture” he honestly can’t remember liking black tea, herbal mixes, or anything else but green tea. Growing up they only drank green tea at his house. Maybe the occasional white tea if his dad bought the groceries. 

“What is green tea?”

“It’s just a type of way they make the tea, you know you take the tea plant and use the leaves or the buds or whatever and then process it in different ways for flavor. Green tea is just a type of process”

“Before the humans came to this realm we didn’t have tea plants” Kai said. “My parents always said the greatest gift your realm gave ours was tea”. Soobin chuckled. So the humans brought an invasive species of plant to other planes, of course they did. The human watched as Kai finished his grinding and laid the mixture out on some cloth to dry. 

“What are you making little sapling?” Yeonjun asked as he walked into the cave. Kai scoffed in response. 

“Hyung my tree has over 300 rings, I’m not a sapling” he protested. 

“Your tree might have 300 rings but if we cut you open you wouldn’t have 20” Yeonjun cooed as he pinched the nymphs cheek. 

“Only two months” the youngest pouted. 

“He’s making tea, what did you call the mixture? Dæliyu?” Soobin supplied. 

“Dɑɪlu” Kai corrected.

“Oh, I tried that once when I went out to the western clay flats” Yeonjun hummed at the memory. 

“I’ve never been” Kai said. 

“Ditto” Soobin said, thinking wistfully of going to clay flats. He had read that the western clay flats were beautiful, every shade of red, orange, and pink there was. They were so vast that numerous ponds and lakes sprung up in them, creating an area perfect for skin care. The clay turned the water into their respective shades, creating a beautiful view. 

“What’s ‘ditto’?” The nymph asked. 

“It just means same, you know like me too” he explained. Yeonjun nodded.

“Humans” he sighed. “Their words are so strange”

“I like it” Kai said. The little sprout said the word a couple of times out loud, smiling at it. 

“What if we go?” Yeonjun said, breaking both Soobin and Kai from their trains of thought. 

“To the clay flats?” Kai asked. The dragon nodded. 

“Really?” Soobin asked, already excited to finally see more of this plane. Yeonjun chuckled and nodded again. 

“Pack some things” he said carelessly like trips didn’t take a shit ton of planning. 

“Yes!” Kai screamed and practically bounced out of the cave to get back to his tree. Soobin sat there, lost for words. He had been dying to travel and see places but Yeonjun had told him they had to get settled with their bond and everything. After a week of begging to leave the cave he had given up if he was honest. 

“Babe, I know you’ve been stressed out lately and the clay flats are almost empty this time of year” Yeonjun moved over to gently place his hand in his mates hair, slowly petting him. 

“How would we even get there?”

“Binnie I’m a dragon” Yeonjun laughed, thinking the human forgot about his ability to shift. Soobin shook his head though, not having forgotten that part. 

“Dragons only allow their mates or immediate family to ride them” he supplemented. His husband seemed to finally get his train of thought and pursed his lips. 

“I didn’t even think about that” he admitted. “It’s strange, before you I would’ve died than let someone ride me, but now I have you and… Our little sapling feels like family to me”

“You want to adopt Kai?” Soobin chuckled, thinking of what a strange little family they would be. 

“He’s obviously not our child, he’s much too old for that… but he feels like how a little brother would, doesn’t he?” Yeonjun asked. Honestly Soobin didn’t know what having a little sibling would be like, he was the youngest. Yeonjun also wouldn’t have any idea, he was an only child. 

Looking back on how his sister treated him, he could probably imagine it. Wanting to protect them from bad things, be someone they could lean on and talk to, even being happy when they’re happy. He felt like that with Kai. 

“Even though he’s not your blood, your dragon is okay with him?” Soobin asked, cautious. A shifters dragon was like another being within them, they had their own wills and wants. Soobin was Yeonjun’s mate and someone his dragon cared deeply for. Historically speaking however, dragons were very territorial and solitary. Yeonjun nodded. 

“Kai feels like family to both of us” The dragon said. Soobin smiled and met his mates hand with his own, grasping it. 

“Make it three of us, babe” he smiled. Yeonjun grinned and leaned down to kiss his lips sweetly. 

“We should go get ready” the shifter whispered against his lips. 

  
  


Kai was holding Soobin so tightly the human was having a hard time breathing, especially with how high in the air they were. Yeonjun had insisted on flying higher than usual, not wanting to be seen. Of course the little sprout was afraid of heights so he was hanging onto Soobin for dear life. 

Soobin himself had gotten better at riding on the dragon. They had practiced a couple of times since their first visit to the forest. He knew where to hold onto and put his feet, the proper way to lay on Yeonjun’s back so he didn’t create air resistance and kept warm. He had never ridden for so long though and with Kai on top of that. 

“Kai! Feel for two sturdy scales and keep your feet stable on those!” He yelled back to the trembling nymph. 

“Huh?!” He screamed. Soobin sighed and used one hand to readjust the youngers grip on him. 

_ “Need me to slow down so he can find his footing?”  _ Yeonjun asked. 

_ “That might be for the best” _ he said, feeling the youngers fingers start to dig their way into his skin again. The dragon was quick to slow down, until the pace was safe enough for him to sit up. 

“Kai, behind your feet there should be scales that aren’t flat to Hyungs body, rest your feet on those” he said, facing the pale sapling. Kai nodded, slowly feeling around with his feet. A sudden rumble came from Yeonjun and Kai looked up in fear. 

_ “I’m just messing with him, he’s doing fine” _

_ “Hyung, you’re going to make him pee all over you if you do that again” _ at his response, the dragon let out a little huff. 

“He’s just messing with you, your feet are placed?” He asked. The nymph nodded. “Okay, you can grab onto me when we’re flying but make sure to put most of your weight on the scales, or else I’ll suffocate”

“Sorry Hyung” he said softly. Soobin grabbed his cold hand and squeezed it in reassurance. 

“Don’t worry, Yeonjun would never let us fall” that got a grumble of confirmation from his mate. Kai nodded and took a deep breath. Soon they were back at normal speed, Soobin much more comfortable than before. Finally, after what felt like forever, they landed on a small patch of grass that was surrounded by beautiful clay flats. 

Just like how it was described, he could see the gradual changes in the clay, it looked like the sun was reflecting off the earth. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. He got off Yeonjun, staring at his surroundings in amazement. Kai immediately jumped into the clay flat, ruining his clothes. Yeonjun shifted next to him, watching the nymph in amusement. 

“Adorable” he chuckled. Soobin wrapped the dragon in a woven blanket they brought. His mate smiled in response. 

“You must be tired Hyung, I’ll set up camp, you should sleep” he said, turning away from the mud flats to grab the supplies they had brought with them. 

“Babe, I can set up camp, go play with Hyuka” he said. Soobin shook his head and began to unpack a bedroll. Yeonjun sighed but let his husband work. Soon enough, the human had Yeonjun tucked into the bedroll and was lucky to have the dragon light them a fire. 

Soobin took his shirt off, laughing as he approached Kai. The younger was covered in orange clay, smiling ear to ear. He let the kid throw a glob of clay at him. They played around in the clay for hours, building things, covering each other in clay to the point that Yeonjun almost screamed when he woke up to an orange Soobin and Kai. They ate some jerky, Yeonjun had packed them, and rested by the fire. He had to wrestle his husband to the ground to let him sleep with him.

“Binnie! You’re covered in clay! You’ll get the bedroll dirty” Yeonjun laughed, not putting up a fight and giggling as his mate rubbed his clay covered face into his neck. 

“Babe” he whined playfully, settling down so he was laying on the elders chest. With a huff of laughter, Yeonjun wrapped an arm around him and moved them into a more comfortable position. Kai was nibbling on jerky, staring into the fire. 

“Are you okay little sprout?” Yeonjun asked. 

“Just thinking about my sisters, I’m hoping they’ve settled in new trees” he sighed. 

“Do you know what forest they’ve made home?” Yeonjun asked. 

“I know the forest but it’s huge, I don’t know where exactly they’re staying now” Kai’s lips made a thin line. Soobin could understand the worry. The problem was that Kai didn’t know where exactly they were but Soobin knew where his family was and had no clue how to get to them. Yeonjun seemed to sense his change of emotions and started rubbing circles in his back. 

“If you want, we can take you to find them” Yeonjun said. Kai pursed his lips, contemplating the option before he shook his head. 

“No, I know they’re safe now, I’ve got my own forest to protect now” sounding resolute, the kid nodded his head in determination. It was adorable. 

“Come here Hyuka” Yeonjun said, using his free hand to motion the youngest over. It was cute the way Kai didn’t even think before grabbing his bedroll and placing it next to theirs, tucking his face into Yeonjun’s back. 

“I miss my family” he admitted. His voice was heartbreaking. It was so easy to forget that the nymph had only recently lost his parents and his home. Now he was separated from his sisters and alone in a forest. He must feel so lonely. 

“We know kiddo” Yeonjun let go of Soobin to give the youngest cuddles. Quick to forget about his own problems, Soobin moved to the other side of Kai and the mated pair curled around the nymph. 

“But you’re part of our family now” Soobin said, hand entangled with Yeonjun’s around Kai’s waist. Even with him facing Yeonjun, Soobin could tell Kai was crying. The rest of the night was spent cuddled together, giving their little sprout tummy rubs. 

  
  


The next morning Kai woke up in a better mood, and Soobin could tell by the way he dumped cold clay on him and Yeonjun as they slept. The shifter chased him around the clay flats until the nymph got his foot sucked into the ground and Yeonjun tackled him. Soobin watched on laughing at how dirty his husband was getting. He himself was covered in dried clay. 

“We should go wash up in one of those ponds you mentioned!” Soobin called out. The two other men walked back to their camp, laughing at the state of each other. 

“There should be one close, not a far walk” Yeonjun said as he sat next to the fire. The three of them ate some of the dried food they packed as well as drank from their skins. Yeonjun explained he had some basic control over water and could refill their water skins whenever, taking a load off his husbands worried shoulders. 

“Come on hyungs” Kai called, getting up and running back into the clay flat. The mated pair laughed as they watched Kai waddle through the clay trying to suck him in. He looked like a penguin. Yeonjun snuffed out the fire and they grabbed clean clothes to change into, that would most likely get ruined on their way back. 

“How can a tree walk faster than a dragon” Kai teased back at them working. 

“YAH” Yeonjun tried sounding mad at him but ended up chuckling afterwards. The nymph stuck his tongue out and started to move again. Soobin nudged his husband with his shoulder. 

“We could just fly over there and beat him” 

“I’m in love with you” the shifter grinned, already shedding his clothes. Soobin felt some satisfaction at seeing the marks he made on Yeonjun show up again. The dragon didn’t care as he shifted and immediately lowered his wing for Soobin to get on. 

_ “He’s going to be pouty the whole time”  _ he told the shifter as they took off. 

_ “Babe he started it” _ he responded nonchalantly. It hardly took two minutes before they landed in the clay, now an orangish pink. The human gazed at the pond before them in awe. It was a semi transparent bright pink. Soobin understood he had probably said this a thousand times already but it was unlike anything back on his plane. As far as he knew anyways. 

“Yeonjun you cheater!” An out of breath Kai was trudging through the clay, cute face in a pout as predicted. 

“You said trees were faster than dragons, I just proved you wrong” the shifter smirked in response, satisfied he beat the sprout. Soobin ignored their little squabbles as he undressed silently. Sticking his toe in the water, he was surprised to feel it was warm. Most likely from the sun bearing down on it and how shallow the water was. Suddenly he felt hands on his waist and was being tackled into the water. Stupidly he gasped at the action and got a mouthful of clay water. Once he emerged, he coughed the water out, eyes tearing up at the effort on his lungs. Kai stood next to him, sheepish. 

“If you had drowned my mate I would’ve killed you sapling” Yeonjun joked as he waded through the water to rub his husbands back. 

“Sorry Hyung” and the pout was back. Soobin let out one last little cough and grimaced at the dry feeling in his nose and throat. 

“It’s fine kid, I’m fine, just know my human lungs aren’t appreciative” he said. Yeonjun took that as his cue to splash water at the nymph. 

“Hyung!” Kai complained. 

“I’m watering my cute sapling” the dragon justified. Kai was quick to splash the water back, hitting the couple. Soon enough a war started. Evidently there was no love in war because Yeonjun was soon splashing him too. It wasn’t long before he jumped on his husbands back and dragged him under the water. God they must’ve played like that for hours until they became too tired to continue. Eventually Soobin floated around on his back, smiling as he watched the eldest gently rinse the youngest’s hair free of clay. 

“I never thought I’d get to see the western clay flats” Hyuka admitted, smiling in content. Soobin stopped his free floating and hooked his chin on Yeonjun’s shoulder, watching him determinedly try to get a glob of clay out from a tangle without pulling on Kai too hard. 

“To be honest I’ve never seen anything like this back on earth” Soobin said, arms wrapping around his Hyungs middle. 

“What does earth look like?” Yeonjun asked. Soobin chuckled. 

“It’s about as diverse as your plane, most of our forests have green grass, green leaves, brown bark. We have colorful flowers as well…” he told them about his home, how apartments worked and how cities were massive. The Velroian boys listened in fascination. Somehow he wasn’t homesick talking about earth. He was happy to be sharing his plane with his new family, it was comforting. 

  
  



	4. Silver Wire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin thought going to the market would be as simple as it was back home. Not the fucking case.

“Hyung, can you get me Jiano seeds, I want to start a little garden” Kai bounced up to Yeonjun, eyes batting cutely. The dragon chuckled.

“Of course little sprout, we shouldn’t be gone long, a day at most unless there’s bad weather” the shifter said, absentmindedly patting the nymphs hair. Soobin smiled fondly as he attached his dagger to his belt. Yeonjun was adamant about him having some sort of protection, seeing as he was a human and therefore powerless to the mythical beings of this plane. It still baffled him he was mated to a dragon and they had basically adopted a nymph.

“We could use more variety in our diet anyways” Soobin said, thinking about their constant supply of meat and the same three kinds of fruit.

“Hyung, I don’t know how you’ve lived here for so long without a proper diet” Kai asked the dragon. In response he shrugged.

“Honestly I’ll eat most anything” and it was true. Yeonjun would eat whatever Soobin tried to cook up when the human would attempt something in the kitchen. He seemed to like the burnt charcoal Soobin ended up with.

“You remember you can come and go in our cave, we have extra knives if someone finds you” Soobin reminded the sapling. He hated the thought of leaving him here alone but the younger had insisted he didn’t want to come with them. Apparently the fae gave him the creeps. Soobin had yet to meet one, so he didn’t know how to feel.

“Babe he knows, come on we have to get going if we want to make it before the market closes” Yeonjun said, grabbing his mates hand. Soobin nodded, motioning his hand for the nymph to give them a hug. Hyuka happily snuggled his head in between the two of them.

“Be safe sprout” Yeonjun mumbled into the youngest’s hair. They could both feel him nod. Kai walked with them to the main ledge, waving at the pair as they took off. The mated pair were going to get supplies, the much needed soap and such.

_ “What’s the name of the village we’re going to?” _ Soobin shifted his weight more comfortably onto Yeonjun’s back. He was kind of a pro at dragon riding now, especially after their hours long ride to and from the western clay flats.

_ “Kreva” _ it was the nearest village to their cave, probably 100 kilometers away from them according to Yeonjun. Kreva was also predominantly fae, hence the reason Kai didn’t want to go. Yeonjun was hesitant to let Soobin come, worried about his husband getting hurt or making a deal with the fae.

They had a sit down the night before where Yeonjun had lectured him on not agreeing to anything suggested by the fae. Their contracts were binding, even to humans, and often left the other party worse off than before. His husband went so far as to tell him to just stick to the shifter and let him handle the trading. The whole trip was making him nervous but he really wanted to see more of this plane after his last adventure. So long as he had his connection to Yeonjun, he felt like he had some security. 

Lately the two of them have been testing their bond, trying to understand it more. According to Yeonjun, soul bonds were pretty unique to everyone. Some mates had the bare minimum connection of neural communication. At least that’s what Soobin called it, happy he sounded kind of smart. Other mated pairs could feel each other’s emotions, see what their mate saw, and many different abilities. He was sceptical on if those abilities would come to them. Not because he doubted the strength of their bond but because he was a human. Soobin had no magic, unlike other mated pairs, no one knew what that could mean for their bond. 

They were quick to figure out their neural connection, Yeonjun established that within seconds of seeing each other. God that felt like so long ago. It also wasn’t long before they could feel each other’s emotions. After their trip, Kai had spent extra time with a still recovering tree in the forest, leaving the mated pair to try and establish a deeper connection. They couldn’t see what each other were seeing, but their emotional connection was much clearer than before. That was something for their hours of work. 

_ “Okay I’m landing a bit away from the village, hang on Binnie”  _ Soobin was so in his head he must’ve lost track of time because it felt like they’d been flying mere minutes. Doing as his mate said, Soobin clutched onto Yeonjun’s scales as they went down faster than usual to avoid as many eyes as possible. He almost leaped off his husband so he could shift back into his human form. Grabbing the clothes from his bag, Soobin carefully laced up the elders boots while he swiftly got dressed. 

“Do you need to rest Hyung?” He asked. Yeonjun shook his head. 

“I just need some water” he reassured. Soobin was quick to offer his mate their water skin. The human lovingly swept the blue and purple strands of hair away from his husbands eyes. “Thanks babe”

“Which way?” He smiled. Yeonjun took his hand and they walked through the forest of vibrant pink leaves. Somehow it felt like a romantic date, even when they were just going to get supplies. The thought made him a little giddy. They had never really been on a date, honestly he didn’t know if they dated on this plane. Just the thought of going to a movie with Yeonjun made him want to laugh. The dragon would probably demand to understand how the magic worked that made the movie. 

“What are you finding so amusing?” Speaking of the devil, he was smirking over at the younger. Soobin made a zipping motion over his lips. “Are you gluing your lips shut?” Eh close enough. He nodded, grinning. Yeonjun took that as a challenge and pulled his muted mate against a magenta colored tree. 

_ “I guess I’ll have to do something about that” _ the shifter eyed Soobins zipped lips. Those dark eyes flickered with the signature seductive look he had grown fond of on his husband. Sexiness was his second nature. There were no complaints from Soobin. Yeonjun’s hands slid up his thighs to his waist, gripping his hips to keep them in place. The slow teasing sent a shiver up his spine. 

“Sometimes I think you’re too perfect to be real” Yeonjun whispered against his lips. Badly wanting to give in, Soobin challenged himself and tried to send his own sexy look at his mate. He had no fucking clue if it worked but the elder seemed to decide that was the time to devour his husbands lips. 

The way Yeonjun kissed always felt different to Soobin. Sometimes it was emotional, loving, and cherishing. Other times he was convinced the man wanted to eat him alive. God he loved everything his mate gave him. Now though, now Yeonjun was attacking him, determined to get his mate to open his mouth. It was delicious. 

Soobin had to hang on to what little bit of teasing nature he had as Yeonjun lightly bit his lower lip, sucking it into his own mouth to caress with his tongue. He had to keep himself mentally in check when Yeonjun got past his lips and grazed his tongue along his front teeth. However strong he had wanted to be, Soobin was no match for the tiny whine that escaped his mates lips. Fucking fuck, he was a weak man. Finally he pressed back, lips started moving in tandem with the elder. Yeonjun, the sexy little shit he was, smirked against his lips and curled his tongue around Soobins. No matter how many times they kissed, it still sent shivers down his spine, made his mind mushy and his body pliant. 

And god he never wanted to stop. The way their mouths moved together was a true testament to their mated bond. There was something so right about Yeonjun against him. Like their bodies were made to please each other, Yeonjun knew what could pull moans from his mate. Kissing his mate was more addictive than anything he knew, even bread. Sorry bread you’ve been replaced by Yeonjun. It seemed all too fast for Yeonjun to pull away. 

“I told you I would do something about that” he panted, lips red and shining. Hell, Soobin could feel the tingles in his own lips, probably swelling up with each passing second. 

“Maybe I should stop talking more often” he teased. His mate scoffed and lightly hit his chest. 

“Come on we’ve got things to buy babe” Yeonjun smiled sweetly, pulling on Soobins hand again. The human was getting whiplash. 

  
  


The village was everything those old women who make fairy gardens in their backyard were hoping it would be. Trees seemed to have been grown in ways to make shelter. Giant plants grew from the rooftops, adding more color to the different shaped homes. Each building seemed to be uniquely made and decorated. As they made their way into the town square he smiled at the small storefronts that seemed to take refuge from any rain or hot sun by being set up in front of giant mushrooms. Yeah, he’s talking about gigantic shiitake, portobello, looking mushrooms the size of a small one story house. 

Most of the people peddling under the mushrooms had tables of goods set up, ranging from food to weapons. Most of the buyers seemed to have diverse backgrounds. Dwarves looked at raw metals, Fairies flew around small trinkets, Nymphs were looking at herbs and medicinal things, and Soobin was looking at everything all at once. There were some people whose race he couldn’t distinguish but he was happy to see there were people who looked closer to human for him to blend in. 

While most of the people buying were diverse, almost all of the peddlers were Fae. While he had seen drawings, they were much more diverse than the solid black eyes, pale skin, and white hair described in the book he read. Much like humans, they had different hair colors and styles, skin tones, and eye colors. What stayed the same between every Fae was the solid colored eyes, slightly pointed ears, and blindingly white teeth. 

“Alright, where’s Lavindar” Yeonjun muttered to himself, using his height to look around. It had been a while since Soobin had been around people of normal height. Yeonjun was tall, Kai was even taller, and he had always been the tallest one in the room. Now he was around other beings, he noticed he was also one of the tallest ones there. 

“What’s he look like?” Soobin asked, also looking around the market. Yeonjun hummed. 

“He changes his appearance a lot, but his magic is something very distinguishable” He replied. Ah yes, Fae could change certain features as a way of camouflage, he forgot. Finally he felt the fingers in his hand tighten and pull him along. They made it to a stall under a stout portobello mushroom with all kinds of goods available. The man behind the counter was talking to a group of pixies, hovering near his eye level. 

“Five alcalac seeds” he was saying. His deep green eyes seemed focused on the pixie in the middle of the group. Said pixie glanced at her friends. 

“Four” her voice was very high and squeaky, but clear. The Fae pursed his lips and nodded. 

“Deal, need me to wrap it up for you?” He asked. After getting a confirmation from the pixies, the man who he assumed was Lavindar, took a delicate, normal sized flower cutting and gently wrapped it in cloth. Together the pixies lifted it up together and thanked him. He smiled in return and thanked them for the seeds he was holding in his hand. 

“Lavindar, how are you?” Yeonjun asked, grabbing the mans attention. He looked up and grinned, showing off his bright teeth. 

“Beautiful Yeonjun, it’s been too long” he said. Soobin wanted to roll his eyes. This bitch ass Fae better stay on that side of the counter. “Who is  _ this _ ?” He seemed to appraise Soobin excitedly. 

“My mate, watch yourself he’s the jealous type” Yeonjun joked. Lavindar was eyeing Soobin up and down like he was trying to figure out his worth. 

“Maybe you should be the jealous one, where did you find such a gorgeous man?” He said, not taking his eyes away from the blushing human. 

“His pack was nomadic and wandered into my forest” the shifter sounded proud. That made Soobin want to hide in embarrassment at his mates seemingful gloating. Yeonjun had told him his own backstory he gave to strangers. The dragon told others he was a gumiho, a fox spirit. Apparently he bore an acceptable resemblance to the average gumiho. Plus the fox spirits also had mates and soul bonds. They had spent some time making Soobin his own backstory, as a werewolf. According to Yeonjun his dark hair and hair eyes were consistent with a wolf's shifted form, as their fur tended to blend with the forest. 

“Werewolf?” Lavindar asked, interest sparking again. Soobin just nodded. “I’ve heard they’ve got great stamina” and the human actually broke eye contact in embarrassment. 

“Amazing stamina” Yeonjun teased. The human eyes his mate. 

“Hyung” his voice was surprisingly stable and not as whiny as he thought it would be. In response the elder laughed. 

“He’s shy, raised in a small pack and they kept to themselves, he’s never been to a Fae town before” Yeonjun explained. The Fae nodded in understanding. 

“Wolves like to stick to the forest, like you little fox” Lavindar chuckled but was also quick to put on a straighter face, a business face. “What can I get the lovely mated pair?”

Soobin zoned out as his husband listed off things they needed and picked from amongst the selection. His eyes moved across the marketplace, admiring the goods set out. There was a smaller stand with spectacularly colored swords, knives, and daggers. The metal gleamed in onyx, emerald green, and other deep colors. They had everything but the normal silver color his plane associated with weapons. A sudden prick on the back of his ear showed a mischievous Pixie fly off with one of his golden hoop earrings. Alarm went through him, that was all he had left of his sister. Quick to follow the fast piece of garbage, he stumbled through the market and into the forest. 

“Hey! Wait!” He called out, eyes desperately trying to follow the zooming bug. Honestly he had no clue where he was going or where he was, just that the little thing had his earring. The Pixie either didn’t hear him or ignored his pleas to stop. Fucking thief. 

“Stop!” He called out, lung burning with the effort to keep up. Just as he was thinking his thighs would give out, the Pixie seemed to run into something. It bounced back from the impact into Soobins face. The impact wasn’t enough to make him fall over too, but the shock of a Pixie crashing into his nose did the job. Faster than he knew was possible he grabbed hold of the tiny asshole and held it up before him. The Pixie was a boy, fluffy blonde hair and brown eyes with what might have been freckles across his face, he wasn’t sure with how he was the size of Soobins palm. 

“Let me go” the Pixie demanded. His voice was deeper than the human expected, typically pixies were said to have high squeaky voices like the ones at the market. 

“Why’d you steal my earring?” He painted. Soobins ass hurt, his lungs were heaving, and legs weak under him. The Pixie tried to bite at his finger but the human shook the tiny creature to make it dizzy. 

“Rude” the Pixie stuck out his tongue. Soobin ripping his earring from his tiny hands. 

“You were the one who stole from  _ me _ ” he hissed. The Pixie crossed his arms and huffed. 

“I could sell that hoop for big money” he explained, pouting like he knew it was wrong to steal. 

“But why did you steal it?” He said, eyes narrowing on the tiny boy. 

“I told you money” he said. Soobin wanted to argue with the Pixie but saw something that made him stop. 

“Your wing” the Pixie’s left wing was bent sideways, it must’ve been painful for him. The boy wiggled his shoulder in discomfort. Did he hurt the boy? “Are you okay?”

“I would’ve been if I didn’t hit that barrier” he scoffed, nodding his head back to where he had been stopped. It was strange, Soobin couldn’t see anything preventing him from moving across, but something had to have stopped the Pixie. 

“What do you need the money for?” Soobin asked, expecting some kind of sob story. 

“To buy things, there’s a new type of morning dew they’ve imported from the north that’s supposed to be really good for your hair” the thought made Soobin laughed. This Pixie stole the only thing he had left of his sister to buy hair product. Still, the Pixie was hurt and probably needed a healer. No way he could fly with his wing like that. 

“If you promise not to steal my earrings I’ll give you something else more valuable” he reasoned, thinking back to the tiny gemstone in his coin pouch. The Pixie eyed him suspiciously. 

“Why would you do that when you have me trapped?” It was actually a good question, he could just leave the poor boy to die out here in the middle of nowhere. Soobin wasn’t that heartless though. 

“You need someone to look at your wing, and I can understand wanting hair product” he smiled, thinking back to his second year of high school when he dyed his hair purple. He had to clean the bathrooms at school everyday for two months for breaking the rules. 

“The why offer something more valuable?”

“Because those earrings are the only thing I have left of my sister” he admitted. The Pixie considered this then nodded. 

“I’m Felix, a flower pixie” the boy said in what was probably acceptance of the deal. 

“I’m Soobin, werewolf” at that Felix flinched. At first he thought he had accidentally bent his wing some more or something, but the Pixie was quick to explain. 

“Wolves are scary” he shivered, looking like a kid. Soobin shook his head. 

“I’m not scary, I’m going to help you, now how should I carry you?” Soobin asked, looking down at his outfit for a pocket or something. The Pixie didn’t say anything, probably a little weary. He decided that the boy could sit on his shoulder. He gently helped him onto his shirt. “This good?”

“Yeah” Felix said, shifting on the humans shoulder until he was comfortable. 

“Tell me if somethings wrong, okay?”

“Okay” the boy said. Soobin smiled and slowly stood up as not to scare the Pixie. He put his earring back in and looked around for any indication of where they were. There was nothing but pink trees. 

_ “Hyung?” _

_ “Binnie! Where did you go? I was so worried” _ and Soobin could feel it, the nervous energy through their bond. 

_ “A pixie stole my earring, I followed him and got it back, but I’m… lost”  _ exasperation fled through the bond. 

“What are you doing?” Felix asked, noticing he wasn’t moving. 

“I’m talking to my mate, I don’t want him to worry. Plus we’re kind of lost” he explained. There was sudden movement on his shoulder and he tried his best to see what the boy was doing. 

“A mate?!” He screeched, causing the human to flinch. 

“Yes-“

“I’ve been looking for my mate for  _ years _ ” he sighed, settling back down. “It’s so rare to find yours when you’re a Pixie, we don’t travel long distances”

“I’m sure you’ll find them eventually” he consoled. “At least you know someone is out there for you, mages, nymphs, and so many other races don’t have mates unless they’re connected to another being that does”

“I know…” Felix pouted like he was being scolded. The Pixie was cute. “But it’s been 234 years”

“How long?!” He can’t remember from his books the life expectancy of a Pixie but that seemed old compared to Yeonjun’s 90. 

“Have you ever met a Pixie?” The boy said, amusement in his tone. 

“Never”

“Unless we’re killed, we don’t die” Felix stated matter of factly. “But we get killed so often by the bigger people, the population in our forest alone has been going down for years” he sighed at that fact. 

“I’m sorry to hear that” he could feel tiny arms wrap themselves around his neck, well as much as they could. Felix probably looked like what Soobin would if he hugged a slightly curved wall. Still it was cute. 

“Thanks Soobin” 

_ “Okay, babe, just stay where you are and I’ll come find you” _

_ “Thank you Hyung… also I kind of made friends with the Pixie who stole my earring” _

_ “Of course you did you big softie” _ Yeonjun’s chuckled resounded through his head. 

  
  


Felix turned out to be adorable. Maybe on par with Hyuka. The Pixie seemed to be very accustomed to skinship, but that was a part of Pixie culture. Still, he seemed a little more into it than what he guessed a normal Pixie would. Soobin had given him the tiny gemstone to play with and the Pixie had run around his shoulder in joy. 

Soobin had stared at the area his new friend couldn’t cross, trying to figure out why the Pixie had bounced off. He pushed his hand through where the barrier had been, and it passed through just fine. It was probably something that only affected Pixies. He had examined the trees above them for an explanation, finding none. The human was just about to investigate the ground when he heard footsteps. Felix stopped braiding the humans hair and seemed to look around in alarm. Those weren’t just regular footsteps, someone was running. He stood up, grabbing his dagger. Soobin wasn’t much of a fighter but he might be able to get the job done if Felix was willing to bite their attacker. 

“Help” the voice was weak, like they had nothing to drink. He turned towards the voice, seeing rustling through the trees. He adjusted his stance, dagger gripped in his hand. The rustling got closer and he could make out a girl, just before she hit that invisible barrier Felix had. She fell to the ground, laying on her stomach. 

“Are you okay?” He asked tentatively, putting his dagger away. She was on the other side of the barrier, and looked too weak to stand. The human kneeled by her, still keeping on the opposite side of the barrier for pure caution. Her hair was long, black and oily. There were knots in it, even a pink leaf stuck against her scalp. She wore only a dirtied white dress, like a piece of cloth with holes cut out for her head and arms. The dress ended at her knees, showing her pale shins that were covered in dirt and dried blood. 

“Soobin, she’s hurt” Felix said. “Her neck” at those words he looked at where her hair was covering her neck, gleaming silver peaking through. The girl slowly flipped onto her back, deep sky blue eyes looking at them. She was a Fae. 

“Please help” her eyes were watery. Soobin nodded, the look of pain and desperation in her solid eyes made him doubt this was some Fae trick. He could see clearer now that a band of silver had been wrapped around her neck. Silver was dangerous to Fae, Pixies, and many more creatures. It could kill them, poison them, and contain them. This girl was being held prisoner by someone. The human was quick to search the ground for some kind of silver. Sweeping across the ground, Soobins hands dug under fallen leaves and sticks. 

“What are you looking for?” Felix asked. 

“Silver”

“You can’t touch it, you’ll get burned!” Felix said, worry in his voice. It gave him a brief pause, because of course his backstory as a werewolf was going to unravel. Wolves couldn’t touch silver either, not even with gloves on, like it sensed them, silver always found a way to get to its prey. Ignoring his new friends concerns, Soobin dug his fingers into the dirt, searching below the surface for the silver. At first he thought he found a thin root to a tree, but he was quick to realize it was a wire. Hands working quicker than before, the human pulled on the wire, hoping there would be some give to pull it out. The wire must’ve gone on forever though, because it was strung tight. 

“Soobin!” Felix screeched in his ear as he grabbed the wire with his hand. Said man pulled out his dagger and started to work it back and forth. The fucking wire was persistent though, and he changed tactics. Who knew when or if the person who was hurting this girl would find them, but he worked single mindedly to try and prevent that. Easing the dagger under the wire, he gripping the handle with both hands and pulled up. 

_ Snap _

The wire gave out under the dagger and he stumbled backwards a bit at the force of it. With nothing but the poor Fae’s ragged breaths in his ear, he pulled the wire out of the ground to make a pathway to pull her over. Grunting in effort, he dragged her weak body over the border and onto his lap, falling down once more. Felix was gripping Soobins hair, hanging off of it as they landed on the ground. 

“Girl!” A man's voice boomed through the trees, footsteps heavier than the Fae’s had been. All three bodies froze. 

“We need to get out of here” the girl wheezed. The footsteps were getting closer and Soobin was realizing this man probably had magic, he had magic and wanted to hurt this girl. And for helping this girl, Felix and him would also face his wrath. By the way the Fae trembled in his lap, he didn’t even want to imagine what the guy would do. Sure there were three of them and one of him but the Fae was in no shape to fight. Felix would be fast if his wing wasn’t hurt, and Soobin was just utterly useless against magic and hand to hand combat. 

_ “Yeonjun!” _ He prayed the dragon was close enough to get to them. 

_ “Just a bit longer darling, it’s hard to track you through the bond” _

_ “Hyung, someone is coming, please be fast” _ his heart was racing as he saw the trees rustle again. They needed to get out of here fast. A face peaked through in the distance. It was a man, large with a gleeful smile upon seeing them. 

“The Fae bitch found friends” the man picked up his pace. Said Fae girl turned her face into his stomach and tensed up. Felix was crawling up his hair, one wing flapping against his ear. They needed to get out of there. 

And suddenly they were. He blinked and the next thing he knew, the three of them were laying in a field. Head whipping around, he saw trees a bit away, leaves gone. And snow, they were in snow. Above he could see the outline of an airplane. He was back on earth. 

_ “Junnie?” _ There was no answer. God he hoped his mate could feel that he was safe somehow. 

“What are you?!” Felix’s voice was directly in his ear, causing him to wince. The poor Pixie was out of breath, leaning on his neck for support. “No werewolf can grab the silver like that! And where are we, what is that thing in the sky! No bird looks like that!”

“Calm down Felix, we’re okay, that man can’t get us here” he tried making his voice soothing but the poor boy shivered against his neck. 

“It’s cold” the girl’s hoarse voice reminded him of her presence. She was right, it was freezing and the poor thing was in a thin dress. 

“Felix, I’ll help you into my hair, it should keep you warm” his brain was thinking fast, hand already moving to push the boy up. There was no resistance on his part and it tickled as the Pixie crawled into his hair, pulling strands around him for warmth. 

“Come here” he motioned to the girl, she hesitantly moved into his hold, hands curling up to his chest. 

“This is earth, where I’m from” he explained. Both creatures went still, shocked. “I am not a werewolf, I am a human. It’s because I’m a human that I could grab the silver. Not long ago I found myself on your plane, I have no clue how I got there but my mate, he found me. To protect me he gave me the cover story of being a werewolf. Somehow, I think in times of extreme stress, maybe? I can travel between the planes. I’ve done it only once before and I’m still not sure how it works” The silence in the air after he finished speaking was awkward. He didn’t know what to do or say to make them say something. It felt like days before the Fae girl spoke up. 

“I am Arin, a Fae. Thank you for helping me human”

“You can call me Soobin” he offered. She nodded, chin hitting his shoulder. 

“I thought humans were myths” Felix said, voice full of wonder. Soobin let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of his situation. 

“Before I came to Veloria, I thought every creature that exists there was a myth” as crazy as it was to think about his life only a short time ago, he needed to focus on there here and now. “Arin, how do I get this off you?” 

“The mage used magic” she shook her head, at a loss. Soobin examined the harsh collar with disdain. It was unbelievably cruel to do this to another person. Arian’s neck looked as if the silver was burning through her skin, it was horrific. He was afraid to touch it and cause her even more pain, so he just looked at it, hoping for some way to get it off without hurting her. The band looked thin enough that if he had wire cutters he could get through. 

“Soobin, there’s a house” Felix yanked on his hair, trying to get the human to turn his head. Following the Pixies tugs, he saw an old Hanok by the edge of the forest. Maybe they had something he could use. 

“Okay, Arin do you think you can get up?” The Fae nodded, with that he stood, hefting the girl up to support her. Slowly they made it over to the dingy house, and he was glad to see upon closer examination that no one was home. Finding a small shed that was separate from the house, he opened the unlocked door to find farming tools, most likely for the field. He set Arin up against the wall and searched around for something that could cut her shackle. 

“Humans have so many strange things” Felix’s voice was filled with awe, most likely looking around the room too. His eyes caught red handles under a basket. Soobin lifted the basket away and let out a happy noise. The tool was something close to wire cutters, sharp on the inside of the blades and dull on the outside. Soobin wasn’t a farmer so how the fuck was he going to know what it was used for when Felix asked, he just grabbed them. 

“Okay, Arin this is going to pull on the band, but it will cut it off. I’m sorry but this might hurt” he winced, seeing the way the girl eyed the large tool. The Fae took a deep breath and tilted her head to the side. Soobin gently pushed one side under the tight band and wanted to cry at the way she clenched her jaw and grasped his arm. Deciding against a countdown, he quickly pushed the opened cutters closed. A gasp of relief came from Arin as the band loosened from her neck. Soobin threw the cutters away and gently pried the band from her neck. The skin under was covered in puss from failed healing attempts, scabs had developed and reopened. Arin didn’t seem to care about any of that as she cried. 

“Thank you” she weeped, relaxing against the wooden wall behind her. He set the band to the side and untucked part of his shirt. He hoped Yeonjun would forgive him for ruining this shirt. Carefully tearing the bottom of it, he wrapped the fabric around the wound on her neck. 

“No problem Arin” his voice was gentle, hoping she wouldn’t cry more because he had no clue what to do with that. 

“How do we get back?” Felix spoke up. Soobin was hesitant. 

“We don’t know if that man is still there, I’m not much of a fighter to protect you two” the human admitted with a blush. 

“Your mate is coming to find us right?” Felix said. Soobin nodded slowly as not to disorientate the Pixie. 

“I can’t get through to him on this end though, just sort of feel his emotions”

“What’s he feeling now?” Arin wheezed, throat obviously still in pain. Soobin focused on his bond, feeling around. Yeonjun was there, worried and angry. The anger was getting stronger. 

“I think we can go back” he said, hoping the anger his mate was feeling was at finding the man. Felix curled tighter into his hair and Arin grasped his hand tightly. He could feel the poor Fae girls heart pounding through her fingertips. Taking a deep breath, Soobin focused on his mate again. Just like he had the last time. Focused on Yeonjun, seeing him again, getting help for his two new friends. 

They opened their eyes to see pink trees. The forest was back, and they couldn’t have been far because he heard a loud roar. Yeonjun. 

“What was that?” Felix whispered. Soobin smiled brightly, his mate was here. 

“My mate” he breathed out. Soobin helped Arin stand up again and followed the noise. The Fae lagging a bit behind to hide behind the tall human. A scream was heard and her grip on his arm tightened. Finally they saw him, Yeonjun had shifted into his dragon form, trapped the mage under his foot and was baring his teeth menacingly. 

“Hyung!” He called out. The dragon turned its head and he could feel the relief flood the bond. The stupid mage took that moment to try and cast a spell on the dragon. Soobin’s mate was quick to spout out a concentrated flame, burning the man alive. He turned his head away at the gruesome scene, trying to ignore the screams. They stopped not long after though and the dragon turned towards them. 

“Dragon” Felix shrieked in his hair, most likely hiding in the strands. Arin even lost her footing as Yeonjun stepped closer to them. 

_ “Babe, thank god”  _ he breathed. The dragon eyed the two people with his mate before shifting. Yeonjun ran over and wrapped his arms around his husband. 

“I thought I would die of worry!” He cried out. Nosing his face into Soobin’s neck. “That stupid mage wouldn’t tell me where you were and I couldn’t get to you through the bond!” He was full on crying now. God Soobin felt like shit. 

“I’m sorry Junnie, the man found us and I didn’t know what to do and then we were back on earth. I didn’t mean to scare you” he caressed his mates bare back. It took a second to calm the shifter down, but when he pulled away from the embrace his pretty brown eyes were red. The human sighed and wiped the tears away. 

“Did you bring clothes?” He asked. The dragon shook his head. Soobin smiled at how cute his mate was. “Okay, you’re lucky I have an extra pair of pants in my bag” he reached for his small pouch and pulled out the pants for his mate. Yeonjun put them on, lacing them up. 

“He’s a dragon!?” Felix’s voice screamed from his hair. Yeonjun glanced up at the Pixie and chuckled. 

“Yeah, now let’s see this wound of yours” he held out his hand for the Pixie to climb on. When Felix didn’t budge, Yeonjun turned his attention to the Fae on the ground. Crouching down, he eyed her wound and made a face of distaste. 

“Mages, barbaric” he hissed. “I’m Yeonjun, Soobin’s mate, I came to help” he offered his hand to Arin this time. The Fae glanced at his hand and took it. He helped her up and let her lean on him for support. 

“I’m Arin, a Fae” she introduced. Yeonjun nodded, smiling kindly at her. 

“Can I ask what happened to you?” Those words seemed to make her tear up but she nodded anyway. 

“I was out helping some dwarves carry a shipment to their horses when we were attacked. The mage killed the dwarves and took me and the shipment” she said, eyes turned towards the ground, voice emotionless. 

“We’ve got you now, come on I know the way back” Yeonjun consoled her. Soobin went on Arin’s other side and with his mate helped her along. The poor thing was as thin as a stick, probably not fed much of anything. Plus her feet were bloodied most likely from her escape. 

“How am I going to explain this?” Arin asked softly, voice still weak. 

“What do you mean?” Soobin wondered. 

“Darling, she’s a Fae, she can’t lie when they ask her what happened and how we helped” Yeonjun explained. Oh, that’s definitely not good. Shit. They’d both be exposed. 

“Fae can bend the truth though” Felix piped up. Yeonjun’s eyes brightened up. 

“He’s right, you just need to tell them as much truth as possible. When they ask how Soobin and I helped, just say we killed the mage, you don’t have to explain any further than that” Yeonjun proposed. Felix hummed above them. 

“Exactly”

  
  


Seeing Arin hug her sisters and their happy faces was what made Soobin’s day. The village healers came out to examine her. The Fae matriarch of this area even visited to question her. Soobin, Yeonjun, and Felix filled in Arin’s gaps. 

“But how did you get the silver off?” One healer asked. Fuckity fuck fuck. How the hell did they not try and figure out this part of the story. Felix couldn’t touch the silver and Soobin wasn’t supposed to be able to. 

“I- don’t know” Arin said, looking at the three boys for help. Yeonjun grasped that opportunity. 

“I’m a Gumiho, I used my magic to get it off” he said. Soobin wasn’t sure if fox spirits had power over metal but the nurses and matriarch seemed to accept this answer. 

“Are you able to look at my friend, his wing got bent” Soobin asked one of the healers who was looking at Arin. She turned her black eyes on him and up at the Pixie still in his hair and she nodded, extending her hand for him. He watched on as she examined the hurt wing. 

“If the bend had been a short time ago I might have been able to do something, but the lack of blood flow to the area makes it difficult” she mused. Felix looked at Soobin with wide eyes. 

“Can anything at all be done?” The human asked. She thought on it. 

“Pixies don’t typically have many healers but if you can find one, they would know how to fix such damage” she concluded. Felix let out a little sob. 

“I don’t know any Pixie healers” his little tears only caught his attention because they sparkled in the sun. Soobins heart sunk, he was partially responsible for this injury. After all of Soobin hadn’t chased after the Pixie, he wouldn’t have been injured. 

“I know one” Yeonjun said, looking over his husbands shoulder. “There’s a small Pixie village in our forest, we can take you there for treatment”

“Really?” The little Pixie’s voice sounded like he wasn’t too hopeful. Yeonjun smiled. 

“Really, it’s a far journey though”

“Thank you!” The Pixie cried out in joy, good wing fluttering a bit. 

They bid goodbyes to Arin who gave Yeonjun and Soobin hugs. She even ruffled Felix’s hair with her pointer finger. It made the boy giggle. With help of their Pixie guide, they made it to his village in no time. Their presence accidentally sent the place into a frenzy of fear. Apparently large creatures weren’t common. The mated pair awkwardly waited for their new friend to pack up whatever he needed for the trip. They walked a long distance before Yeonjun deemed it safe enough to shift. Soobin looked over at the Pixie on his shoulder. 

“You ready? Junnie isn’t happy I asked him to let you ride on him, so try not to cause trouble” it had in fact taken a lot of acting cute and begs to get his mate to allow the Pixie on him. The idea went against his dragon's nature but Soobin hated the idea of a week long walk to their forest. 

“Promise” the Pixie said. Soobin smiled and helped the boy into his bag. 

“I’ll try not to crush you” he laughed as he climbed up on his mate. The Pixie squeaked out in protest. 

_ “Thank you for doing this babe” _ all he got was an unhappy grumble.  _ “I promise to make it up to you love” _

_ “How?” _ The dragon asked, voice a little teasing. Soobin grinned. 

_ “Anything you want darling” _


	5. Pink Skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kang Taehyun is truly an unlucky person.

If there was one thing Kang Taehyun hated, it was sparring with wizards. Pretentious flauxworms. They always thought they were better because their magic came from them. Yul, the wizard in front of him twirled his staff with a cocky smile. He was the worst partner to spar with. Yul was always arrogant, boasting of his skill, the depth of his magical pool, of his accomplishments. The worst part was that the underside of a Fae’s foot really was as good as he thought he was. No one could beat him in a spar, not even other wizards. 

“You don’t have anything to fight with?” He sneered, orange eyes squinted in amusement. At this point the werewolf’s anus had to know Taehyun had lost his last weapon in his previous sparring match. He was left with nothing but his normal, boring sword against a powerful wizard. Which teacher decided this was a good idea again?

Thankfully, his studying of the wizards previous matches came in handy because he noticed the telltale twitch in his opponent's right eye. Ducking to the side, he missed the spell which would’ve made hundreds of tiny cuts all over his body. It was a simple spell, one they were allowed to use during sparring. All the same it sucked to be on the receiving end. Taehyun barely knew any healing. 

Knowing his evasive move would irritate Yul, he kept moving to dodge the barrage of spells flung at him. With just his sword, the only way Taehyun could even have a chance of beating him was in close combat. So he dodged and jumped around the spells coming after him until he had a clear shot. Just feet away, he could see an opening. Yul had just made a motion to cast a spell that left his left side open. He just needed to take the chance. Muscles already knowing where to go, he swung the dull sword at the weak point. It felt like time had slowed down as the wizard moved unnaturally fast to block the hit with his staff. The force of it caused his sword arm to reverberate off the staff and gave the stupid flauxword an opening. Crying out in pain, he fell to the ground, electricity leaving his body spasming. 

That idiot cast an illegal spell on him. It was powerful too, making his body light up in pain. Yul hit him with a summon of lightning. It felt like he lost control of his own body. Like his blood was being electrified. He had no fight left in him, body shutting down. Taehyun groaned, eyes blurring with tears as he watched the wizard grin over him. 

“Poor little mage”

  
  


Kai had greeted Soobin and Yeonjun with much enthusiasm, bouncing around happily. Or at least that was what he had thought, until he started rifling through the items they bought, looking for whatever seeds he had asked for. 

“You’d think he’d be happy to see us” he said to his mate. The shifter was changing into some clothes. Yeonjun laughed. 

“You should know by now he only loves us for the things we do for him” teasing Kai was always fun, especially when Yeonjun did it with him. The nymph didn’t seem to hear them as he squealed in excitement. The boy was clutching a small sack of what Soobin assumed to be seeds. 

“Thank you Hyungs! I can’t wait to plant them!” He squeaked as he ran off into the forest. 

“Who was that?” Felix asked from his bag. Shit he had forgotten the Pixie was in there. Quickly opening the bag to offer his hand, the blonde boy climbed on it with no problem. 

“Our son” Yeonjun sighed sarcastically. The Pixie giggled. 

“Cute” was all he said. Soobin let his new friend sit back on his shoulder. 

“Where are these Pixies?” He asked his husband. Yeonjun looked around as if figuring out where in the forest they were then pointed behind Soobin. 

“Follow me babe” he smirked, still shirtless form confidently walking off. How could a person be cute and sexy so effortlessly. Like the whipped man he was, he followed after Yeonjun. 

“Your mate is very beautiful” Felix whispered in his ear. Soobin grinned, in total agreement. 

“He really is” even he could hear how in love he sounded. God he would have hated seeing how in love he was two years ago when he broke up with his ex. They walked and he entertained Felix with stories of his own plane. 

“So that thing I saw in the sky had people in it?” The Pixie asked in disbelief. Soobin chuckled. 

“Yeah, a little over a hundred years ago we invented those, it’s called an airplane”

“Wow, how does it work?”

“Uhm, something to do with physics? I don’t know, it would take me years of learning to understand how one works” Soobin flushed, embarrassed that he couldn’t explain how a plane worked. 

“Have you been in one?” Felix asked, not minding his lack of knowledge. 

“Yes, it’s kind of like riding Hyung, but less wind in your face because it’s enclosed”

“Your mate is an airplane” Felix said, looking at Yeonjun in amazement. The dragon glared back at them. 

“I am  _ not _ an airplane” he scoffed, offended. 

“Definitely not, babe you make airplanes look like trash” he agreed, not wanting to further anger the man. Yeonjun nodded, smiling at his words and continued on. 

“Yeonjun Hyung!” A high pitched voice called out. They looked around and found a small being flying in front of them. He was a Pixie, with long blonde hair like Felix. He seemed a bit taller than the other Pixie did though and his wings were a pretty pink instead of Felix’s blue. 

“Hyunjin! Nice to see you again” Yeonjun smiled. “This is my mate Soobin and our friend, Felix” that turned the Pixies attention off the shifter and towards the human. 

“You must be needing to see Minho Hyung, follow me” the Pixie said, fluttering off at a much slower pace than before. 

  
  


Taehyun hated this feeling. He prayed to the ancestors he wouldn’t have to be on the receiving end of such a spell again. There had been significant damage to his lower left leg and foot, enough to leave scars from the sheer force of the spell. Healers had been in and out all morning, doing what they could. The spell had hit there the hardest, the lightning burning through his skin, and into his muscle. So now he was trying his best not to pass out when the pain relief spells put on him faded. The head healer had said they only had a few more spells left. 

Stupid Yul had done enough damage that the other healing mages couldn’t keep up. Whatever objects they had been taking magic from burnt out quickly with their effort to help him. Healers had to discard amulets, papers, werewolf baby teeth, it looked like a massacre of magical objects. 

Mages didn’t have their own magic. Most other creatures were born with some kind of natural ability drawing from pools of magic inside them. Mages weren’t born with those pools of magic. However, they could take magic. 

Magic came from everything. Even mages without magic pools gave off small amounts of magic. The magic given off by beings imbued itself into objects, amulets they wear, papers they spend time studying, teeth they lose as they grow. Mages used these items to use magic. With magical objects, they could make spells, potions, charms, anything as well as other beings could. 

So it sucked that he had to wait through this pain because the mages were running out of the amount of magic needed to heal him. That flauxworm Yul was at fault. The wizard didn’t even have the decency to lend some of his seemingly endless amount of magic to his healing process. 

Since healing magic had to do with progressing the time around the afflicted area, it took a lot of magic. Things like redirecting a projectile took little to no magic, controlling the things around you didn’t require as much magic as doing something so against nature as healing magic. Other creatures who had healers didn’t have to use time magic, they just used the magic pool within the patient. The larger your magic pool, the more magic you have and the faster you heal without outside help. Mages weren’t so lucky. 

“Okay, we can get going again” a healer said as she came in. All the healers had the same teal robes to denote their rank. In her hand was a standard arrow. It had probably been something carried around in a quiver for years unused or reused again and again. 

The process wasn’t as painful as one would think. His skin stitching together felt more like an ache than anything else. He watched as she unwrapped the bandage on his shin and foot. Puss was oozing out, the skin was bright pink where it had healed over somewhat. What Taehyun focused on more than anything was the spell the healer murmured quietly as she worked. One hand clutching the arrow, the other almost close enough to touch his wound. 

“ŋməʃ” was what she was saying. Taehyun had studied the ancient language for years, but his worst area of magic was healing. He wasn’t sure it’s exact translation but it sounded close to the word for ‘layer’. As with his last seven sessions, the arrow’s magic ran out and his wound was getting a little better. 

“Thank you” he bowed his head politely. The healer nodded. 

“If it wasn’t for that stupid boy hitting you with an illegal spell we wouldn’t be here. They have the audacity to reward him with a quest” she scoffed. That was news to Taehyun. 

“A quest?” What kind of spell did Yul cast to not only get himself out of trouble but a quest as well. By the ancestors he was top of his class and had been waiting for one for years!

“A mage was found burned to death, Yul is to go investigate” this had to be some kind of joke. That son of a spiked foul got to investigate the first sign of a dragon murder in ten years while he had to stay here?

“I don’t know what the council is thinking” he shook his head. The healer hummed in agreement. 

“Get some rest now, we should be back soon” the healer smiled kindly as she took her leave. Why did he have such bad luck?

  
  


Besides his own bond formation, Soobin had never seen someone else meet their mate. That is until this very moment where a frozen Pixie was staring at another in fascination. Felix’s mate was a little shorter than he was, stockier, with curly black hair and white wings. Their little group had been walking into the Pixie village, a small area among the purple trees where small homes were built into the trees or incorporated into the branches. There must have only been a dozen or so homes, but the moment they had come in, it seemed like every tiny door opened to see what was going on. That’s where he could feel Felix grip his shoulder, tiny hands making it feel like a pinch. Felix’s mate seemed to notice something was wrong, he flew over at top speed to the boy.

“Our mate” he said, eyes wide in horror. Was he disappointed in Felix? Why did he look like he was frantic to leave them. Felix seemed to understand what he was saying because he grasped the other Pixie’s hand and nodded frantically.

“They’re in pain, we have to find them” his deep voice wasn’t letting any emotion through besides dogged determination.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Yeonjun gently put his hand on Soobin’s free shoulder.

“Babe, their bond isn’t complete, look at their hands” he whispered, not wanting to distract the newly found pair. Soobin followed his husband’s advice and narrowed his sight on their clasped hands. Their bond marks had appeared on their hands, too delicate for him to describe, but discolored. It wasn’t a gleaming gold like his own was. Their bonds were a dull bronze color and the human had no idea what that meant.

_ “Junnie, what’s going on with their bond?” _

_ “It’s incomplete” _

_ “But what does that mean, how can it be incomplete, they’re both here looking at each other” _ Their bond had been immediate, not incomplete. According to everything Yeonjun had told them about their bond, even if one didn’t want to, they had no choice to be mates. The bonding was immediate upon eye contact.

_ “Not every mate is present” _ Yeonjun said. More than one mate? The thought had never occurred to him. Of course he had heard about polygamous relationships, but they were rare and he never knew anyone in one or even if it was legal in Korea. It was stupid of him to think it couldn’t happen here either. A tug on his shirt brought his attention back to Felix and his mate. 

“Please help us find them” he pleaded, eyes watery. 

_ “Until they find their other mate or mates, it’ll be excruciating for the unbonded ones” _ Yeonjun explained, sympathy and pity in his voice. 

“How can we help?” He asked, hand automatically finding his own mate. 

“We can feel them, the closer we get, the stronger our feelings, with my wing like this, I need your help” Felix explained. He nodded, looking at Yeonjun. 

“Tell us where to go” he agreed. It was after this that Felix turned into a little dictator, shouting orders every couple of minutes. His mate followed closely behind them. Honestly if Felix was living so far from his mate, then it would be a miracle their other mate or mates was close. 

“I am Chan, a dew Pixie” the mate mentioned as they passed a grove of fæneria. Soobin would have laughed at the irony under any other circumstance. When he first met Felix, the Pixie had stolen his earring in order to buy dew for his hair. Looks like he wasn’t going to have a problem with that in the future. They were getting closer to the edge of the forest when they found Kai. The nymph looked frantic and surprised. Almost as if he was just going to get his friends. 

“There’s a fairy, he’s-“ 

“Which way” Chan interrupted. Kai pointed behind him and together they all ran off. Maybe this was the way high speed chases felt. Going twice the speed limit to get away from someone or to something. Except there were no cars here and no one was chasing them. Were they doing the chasing then?

“Right!” Felix shreaked in his ear, breaking him out of his train of thought. Like he was the car Felix was using, he turned at the Pixies directions. Why did he have to be the car in this scenario? They always crashed and burned at the end for cool cinematic effect. If he blew up by the end of this he would haunt the Pixie forever. 

“There!” Chan yelled, fluttering faster towards a meadow. Dozens of different types of flowers grew in the field, but instead of being able to focus on their beauty, Soobin was halted at the sight of a fairy. 

Now Fairies and Pixies were similar, they weren’t the same. In fact saying that would be highly offensive. Pixies were more mischievous, focused more on plants. Fairies tended to be a little larger, with different shaped wings. Their magic was broader, covering things from healing to light. Pixies were keepers of nature while Fairies were more along the lines of providers for nature. This Fairy was sweating, laid out on the flowers with three others of his kind surrounding him in worry. 

In his hurry to get to his mate, Felix actually leapt off Soobin’s shoulder, one good wing flapping helplessly as he landed amongst the flowers. Out of instinct Soobin scooped the floundering boy up and moved him to the Fairies side. Chan was also by his mates' side, both hands gripping theirs. 

“Leave them be, they need to be by his side until he wakes up” Yeonjun said, directing the Fairies to back away. Soobin gripped his husband's hand, hoping his friend's mate would be okay. 

  
  


Technically it could be argued that Taehyun was smart and often to most level headed in the room. Lucky for him he wasn’t in a room, he was outside the quarters the wizards lived in, waiting for that slimy siren’s fin Yul to leave. To be honest the mage had no game plan for what he was going to say. Maybe he would yell at the idiot for using an illegal move. Demand they stand before the council and resolve this in a fair manner maybe. Whatever he was going to say, he didn’t have time to think about it because Yul stepped out of the large double doors, pack slung over his shoulder. 

“Little mage” he smirked, watching Taehyun. Werewolf’s anus. 

“What was that during our duel?” He demands, almost shocked he was keeping his cool. Taehyun wasn’t even fully healed yet, he had snuck out after the healer told him Yul was going on a quest. He wasn’t going to let the wizard know that the reason he was leaning against the wall on his good foot was because he could barely walk on his bad one. 

“As much as I’d like to relive our petty fight, I have a quest to be on” his voice was hoighty, nose turned up at Taehyun like he was a pile of feces. 

“Yeah a quest you got rewarded for using illegal spells to win” he countered. Yul snorted. 

“I would hardly need to use illegal spells to defeat you, it was a simple slip of tongue. The council has already accepted this” 

“I would find a Fae more believable than you” he snorted. Yul narrowed his eyes at the mage. 

“And I would find a nymph less whiny than you” 

“You must not have met many nymphs then” Taehyun glared at the man. A flash of  _ something _ came across his face before he snarled and whipped his staff out. 

“Mage you should be grateful I don’t smite you right here”

“You know you can’t harm another student outside of a duel” he retorted. The council was very strict on their policies of maiming within the school. A slap on the head would be enough to banish a student. Yul, however, didn’t seem to care. 

“You know your kind little mage. Always desperate for the magic of others. All I need say is you tried to steal my staff” by the ancestors he hated that racist flauxworm. 

“The council knows I wouldn’t do such a thing” Taehyun mustered all his strength to get on his two feet and stare the wizard down. 

“The council knows you must be angry at me for my mistake during our duel, angry enough to steal my staff. The thing I own most embedded with my magic” he tilted his head like he was teasing a child. 

“You might be the top of the wizard classes but I’m the top of mage classes” Taehyun said, arms crossing over his chest. The wizard chuckled. 

“Everyone knows mages are nothing but parasites, thieves who desire others magic. You aren’t anything compared to the worst student in the wizard classes, let alone me” the wizard stalked forwards, standing less than half a meter from the fuming mage. 

“Your racism is unbecoming” was all he had to come back with. Taehyun was an idiot, he could’ve said something much better. ‘I’ve met werewolves more open minded than you’ or ‘I heard your beloved mother was half mage?’ His words seemed to be enough for Yul who shoved his staff against Taehyun’s chest. He grasped it in an attempt to throw the man off him, but Yul just smiled. 

“I must agree with everyone else, mages truly are the stupidest race” and with that he mumbled the same spell he had during their duel. The one that had permanently scarred his body, sent waves of pain through him that were unforgettable, all of that power. Now however, it wasn’t at his foot, but his chest. And the pain was even worse than before. 

  
  


Luckily they had gotten to their mate fast enough that he was only out for a couple of hours. Felix had actually wept in relief into his shirt. Their mate, Seungmin, was apprehensive of the dragon and wolf (Soobin was keeping his cover story). The other three Fairies were happily settled in the Pixie village, seeing as two of them found their mates. Changbin the fairy was deep in conversation with Hyunjin. Jisung, also a fairy, was staring at his mate with big eyes. Minho was the healer that they had come here to see, he had taken care of Seungmin when they brought him and was currently focusing on Felix’s wing. 

“It’s infected but we can still save it” the Pixie healer had said, almost completely ignoring his fresh mating bond. Soobin had been relieved to hear it and agreed to stay with his friend while he was being healed. Which led them to now-

“OW! Are you trying to tear my wing off?!” Felix spat at the healer. Minho wasn’t taking his shit though and stared him down. 

“I’m saving your wing, so unless you do want it infected and amputated, you will sit still and let me work” Felix shut up, lips in a pout. Soobin chuckled and stuck his finger close to his friend. 

“If you need to squeeze something, here you go” Felix didn’t say anything but wrapped his arms around the finger, hugging it. Soobin was reminded of how babies can wrap their whole hand around a pinky finger. Adorable. 

_ “How’s he doing?” _ Yeonjun asked. The dragon was out gathering a herb from his cave that Minho had requested. God he was the most kindhearted man there was. 

_ “He’s whining but I’ve got him settled” _

_ “Sounds like he’s your hatchling” _

_ “No, that’s Hyuka”  _ that got a chuckle from his husband. The arms around his finger tightened as the healer gently bent the wing back into place. Chan was next to his mate, rubbing his back gently. Their other mate was resting next to them, but his eyes were trained on the healers hands. Almost as if he was making sure Minho wasn’t hurting his mate more than necessary. Felix would be fine if he had such sweet mates. 

“Where is your mate with my lokay berries?” Minho asked the human. Soobin sighed. 

“He’s finding them, our collection isn’t exactly small and organized” the healer rolled his eyes and went back to work on the wing. Felix’s little fingers dug into his. It almost felt like a little animal was nibbling on his finger. 

“Is there something I can do?” Jisung spoke up from his seat. The healer seemed to finally look at his mate, surprised. 

“Oh, um, well I guess cɪnylla root would help him with the pain a bit” he blinked, as if only seeing the Fairy now. Jisung hopped up, ready to assist. 

“Where is it?” He asked after his mate gave no further explanation. It shook the healer out of his daydreaming. 

“The- my- the storage area in the fourth opening on this tree” he said, pointing at the tree by them. Minho’s healing area was outside, on a low branch that had a platform of leaves built on it. Apparently it was a must for Pixie’s to heal in a nature filled area. 

“What’s it look like?” The round cheeked Fairy asked. 

“It’s labeled on a jar, should be the second shelf from the ceiling” he said. The fairy took off, wings fluttering behind him. 

“He’s sweet” Chan elbowed the healer. Minho scoffed, blushing none the less. Soobin smiled, remembering how awkward he was around his own mate at first. Sure he came from another plane and was getting over a huge culture shock, but he had been mystified with his mate like the Pixie was. Jesus, he sounded like one of those old ladies who randomly talked to young people about how when she was their age. 

“I’ve got the berries” Yeonjun said, face a little flushed. Soobin raised his free hand to hold his mates cheek, hoping to cool it down. Yeonjun smiled, nuzzling his hand before handing the berries to Minho. 

“You didn’t run too hard did you?” He asked the dragon softly. Yeonjun chuckled and shook his head gently. 

“No, I’m fine, worry more about your friend” he said. Soobin frowned. 

_ “You’re my first priority, no matter if my friend is being cut in half” _ that made the dragon blush harder. 

_ “You know you still owe me for letting Felix fly on me” _ Yeonjun mused, arm moving to wrap around his husband's waist. Soobin smiled. 

_ “I am fully aware and more than willing to do whatever you want”  _ he flirted. Yeonjun just laid his head on the humans shoulder and watched Minho work on a paste out of the berries. As weird as their simple trip to the market had been, Soobin was just glad Yeonjun wasn’t hurt. He almost lost his mind when he had been sick, god the thought of his desperation back then sent a shiver down his spine. Sensing his feelings, Yeonjun rubbed his warm nose on his neck. It might be ridiculous but the slight movement did calm him down. 

“I’ve got the root!” Jisung called out as he fluttered to his mate. Minho seemed to forget what he had been doing for a second in favor of staring at his mate. Felix’s little whine got him back on track though. 

“Felix you’re going to have to eat this” Minho said, offering the tiny root. With a scrunch of his nose, the injured Pixie did as he was told. 

“Gah it’s disgusting” he whined, earning a chuckle from his Fairy mate. 

  
  


Waking up chained to a bed wasn’t something Taehyun would recommend. Healing mages were scuttling around the room, all holding some kind of item embrewed with magic. The sudden flash of pain in his chest made him gasp out and his vision blurred. Two mages were muttering above him, healing him. Healing him from his second electrocution of the day. Yul that werewolf anus. 

“Stay still Kang” a healers voice came from the crowd, he couldn’t focus much on it past the pain. It was making him dizzy, eyes watering and chest panting. His heart was beating erratically, making his head throb. A hand on his head made him slowly lose consciousness. 

When he woke up again he was still chained to the bed, stuck in a stiff position with how tight the shackles on his wrists and ankles were. The pain in his chest was dulled, but every time he took a breath felt like he was breaking his ribs apart. Instead of too many healers to count, it was just one. She was the same healer he had learned about Yul’s quest from. 

“What happened?” He wheezed, voice cracking. She stopped whatever she had been doing and looked at him, eyes unreadable. 

“You attacked Yul, tried to steal his staff” she scoffed. “The council must be wrapped around his finger to believe you were in such a condition to attack that boy”

“They believe I attacked him?” There was no way, no evidence or proof besides the word of Yul. If that was enough evidence than what he has to say should be too. 

“Apparently he provided his testimony under a truth spell” she pursed her lips. 

“Those can be manipulated” he protested weakly. The healer gave him a sad smile. 

“I’m sorry young one, you’re to be banished” she said sadly. Banished? From the school or from the city? From what? Why? He was innocent!

“I need to speak to the council, they can’t determine this with one side of the story” 

“Which is why all us healers were working so hard on you earlier” she admitted. “The council has long since been corrupted by wizards seeking to revert mages to the second class we used to be. I’m sorry to say Kang, but you posed a threat to wizards and they took the chance to banish you”

“No, I have to talk to them!” He argued. The council had always been just and fair, it was why their society worked. It was why the mages and wizards prospered together. 

“I understand, which is why I’m here” she held up her hand, showing off a golden coin. It was just like any other coin, but it held much more magic than normal coins did. Someone must have held onto this their whole life. “We are going to get you well enough to plead your side”

“What about my shackles, I’m chained up” he tugged on his arms, letting the chains jingle. She smiled. 

“Those were the order of the council until your trial was over” then why was she smiling, he had to go defend himself. “But I think they ended the trial, so I’m going to get those off you” she smiled. Taehyun sighed in relief when he was freed. Mages might be immune to most metals but it still rubbed on his skin wrong. The healer immediately started her work on him. 

Maybe because he had been so drowsy and literally put to sleep earlier, but Taehyun was only just realizing the damage done to him. The reason it had felt like his ribs were breaking when he breathed? Because across his chest, barely healed over scars covered him. Just like the ones on his leg, they were deep and aching. The scars were bright pink and puffy, the most dense collection of them was above his right pectoral muscle. The area where the spell had initially hit him. It looked like lightning in the sky, pink bolts across his tan skin. They extended down his torso and over to the left side of his body as well. Although the scarring had tapered off as it left the initial area of impact. 

Taehyun let out a shaky breath at his own body. Just yesterday it was smooth and normal. Now he looked like one of those trees struck during a storm. The healer worked carefully, layering the skin over a couple of times. By the time she had exhausted the coin of its magic, his breathing was much less painful. 

“There’s going to be nothing I can do about the scars, or the nerve damage” she said. Taehyun looked up. 

“Nerve damage?”

“Yes we tested you out as it’s common with this injury, the nerves around the point of impact are severely damaged. You have to be careful with yourself now because you won’t be able to feel pain if something hurts you there” he nodded, at a loss. This was beginning to feel real now. The scars proof of what happened and what the council decided. He had to speak to them. 

“Can I speak to the council?”

“I’m just going to do one more round on both your chest and your leg, then I’m sure you’ll be able to leave” she smiled encouragingly. The mage tried smiling back but with everything weighing on him he couldn’t. He felt bad, the healer was beyond kind. 

“What’s your name?” He asked her as she grabbed another object. This time it was a belt buckle, somewhat rusted but otherwise brimming with magic. 

“Sojung” she said. He smiled. 

“Thank you for your care” he bowed his head as much as he could. Sojung chuckled and got back to work. By the time she was done with him he was mostly achy and kind of had a headache. Sojung assured him he was fine to go. 

“Other mages speak of you Taehyun, I hope you are just as brilliant as they say” Sojung smiled, offering her hand. He smiled as he took it. It hurt to get on his feet, but compared to how he couldn’t even put weight on it earlier, he wasn’t going to complain. She left him to change out of his clothes. A ruined shirt burnt to a crisp and pants with blood on them. Taehyun changed his pants for some black cloth ones that were loose around the legs for his own benefit. His shirt was just changed into an identical one, the big difference was the new one didn’t look like a dragon attacked it. The mage laced up his boots loose as not to bother his scars and left to see the council. 

It was nerve wracking to know that he was walking into potentially the most important conversation of his life. The council could decide whether he would be allowed to remain at the school or banish him from mage and wizard society. 

Long ago the two had become allies, raising the young together at their schools, forming the council with equal representation. They had the power over the warriors, were the judges, and lawmakers. Olypat had been their capital for centuries, where the mages and wizards were based. Every child attended the school under the councils watchful eyes. Their tower was majestic, overlooking the sprawling city as the head of their government. The first time he had seen it, he thought it was the tallest building to ever exist. To this day he still hasn’t seen a grander structure, but he had learned of bigger buildings. The Fae across the great ocean had the tallest building in the world. They had grown trees together for thousands of years, shaping them and keeping them alive. He would love to see that one day. 

Standing before the tower now, he felt like it had shrunk. Maybe he had just gotten taller and older or he had become wiser. Whatever the reason, he still took a deep breath before opening the doors. Taehyun bypassed the warriors and walked up the staircase. 

“I demand an audience with the council” as was his right as a mage. The warriors guarding the doors to the chambers moved aside. He hesitated, but knew he had to speak to them if he wished to remain. Pushing open the doors, he found many of the council members sitting in their designated seats, others were up getting a drink or talking to other members. At his appearance they converted to their seats. 

“Kang Taehyun, we have decided your case. Seeing as you are healed we will have the warriors escort you out of our territory” the head councilor, Haeyoung boomed. She was a wizard, old with white hair and deep brown eyes. He bowed his head in respect. 

“I come before the council to plead my case” he explained. “My trial was conducted without my presence. In the past the council had always heard both sides of an argument. All I ask is you hear mine”

“Proceed” councilor Haeyoung granted. He took another shaky breath. 

“During my duel with Yul, he used an illegal spell on me. Resulting in permanent damage to my body. When I woke up in the healing quarters, I was told you had pardoned this spell and given my opponent a quest as a reward. You can see where I was upset, had the fight been fair and just and I lost, I would have gladly admitted defeat” he began. The council members stared at him, passive looks not giving away any of their feelings. 

“However I wished to talk to Yul. Ask him why he cast the spell, hear his explanation face to face. So I left the healing quarters, my foot still in the process of healing. I met him as he was leaving and asked him. Yul took offense to what I said and we got into an argument. At one point he raised his staff and physically pushed it against my chest. He then used the same spell he had during our duel and caused even more damage to my body. I wake up chained to the bed, blood everywhere, multiple healers are working on me. Later they tell me I had been banished, without hearing the whole story.” He bowed his head again to let them know he was done. 

“You say this is the truth, yet when he placed a truth spell on Yul, he passed” councilor Haeyoung said. 

“Truth spells can be manipulated” he insisted. 

“Are you suggesting Yul learned forbidden magic to shield the truth from us?” This time it was a mage councilor, Junsi. 

“I am. He is a powerful wizard with much knowledge” as much as he was pained to admit it. 

“As I brought up earlier, Taehyun did not pose much of any threat to Yul, he had no magical items on him and a foot he could not stand on. Even if what Yul said was true and he felt threatened, there was no need to perform such a powerful spell on an unarmed opponent” Councilor Ryujin, another mage, brought up. At least someone saw his side, at least partially. 

“Have you to say anything else?” Councilor Haeyoung asked. He shook his head. “We will converse, leave us” and that was the end of the most important conversation of his life. The warriors had shown him to a seat while the council deliberated. The waiting was worse than the pleading. He had no idea what they were saying behind those doors, how many members were voting against him or for him. Any moment Taehyun could be kicked out of the only life he has ever known. 

Most children begin school when they reach ten years. 

Taehyun had been here since he was seven. His parents had died, or given him up, or something. He was raised in the orphanage on the edge of the city. However by the time he was seven, he was considered too old for adoption and was sent to the school. 

It was sudden but the warriors guarding the door moved towards him. He didn’t know what they wanted to do until the wizard guard lifted his hand and muttered a spell. Taehyun barely had time to blink before he was out cold. 

  
  


Soobin loved when he got to just lay against Yeonjun’s chest. The dragon produced more heat than what he did, making him always warm and comfy. His heartbeat was steady under his ear, making Soobin doze off. Not to mention the way his mate loved to touch his ears, cheeks, anything. Yeonjun said he had the softest skin and could just run his finger along his ear lobe for hours. 

He hadn’t grown up religious at all. His parents were neither Bhuddist or Catholic. But he imagined meditation was something like this. Hours of nothing in his mind, just Yeonjun next to him. Or that this was how some people felt during prayer, just a singular connection. Yeonjun wasn’t God, but Soobin loved him as much as the Pope loved God. 

“Hyuka said he would stop by soon, he wants to show us what he grew with the seeds we got him” 

“It’s only been a week” Soobin looked up at his husband, eyebrows furrowed. The shifter chuckled and smoothed his finger across his brow. 

“Nymphs can speed up the growth process darling, within seconds” 

“Then why did it take him a week?” Soobin asked. Yeonjun smiled. 

“He’s never grown them before. It’s like reading, you have to learn slowly but when you know how you can read anything” the dragon moved his hand down to Soobin’s cheek. 

“Magic is so complex” he noted. Yeonjun’s pouty lips broke into a wide smile that reached his eyes. 

“You’re adorable” he said, leaning his head down to kiss the youngers forehead. 

“Hyungs! My Jiano flowers blossomed!” Kai busted ass into their room. He didn’t even spare them a glance as he landed on their bed, eyes wide with happiness. To be fair the flowers were gorgeous. They were a shining silver, with pale green leaves shaped like hearts. 

“They’re beautiful sapling” Soobin smiled, leaning forward to gaze at the pretty plant. Yeonjun sat up with him, bare chest once again on his back. 

“Our little sprout has his own sprout” Yeonjun faked teared up. Soobin laughed, making a pitiful face at his mate. 

“They grow up so fast” he agreed, voice doing a horrible job of keeping his laughs in. Kai scoffed. 

“Hyungs I’ve had my own sprouts since I was really a sapling” 

“Now he’s talking back to us?” Yeonjun hid his face in Soobin’s shoulder, body wracking with fake sobs. Soobin ran his finger through the dragon’s blue and purple hair. 

“Yeonjun and Soobin” Hyuka said their names informally, giggling. They both reacted with gasps of horror and Yeonjun even went back to fake weeping. 

“Darling, we’ve lost him forever” Soobin said. Hyuka was full out laughing now, making Soobin lose it at the dolphin shrieking. Even Yeonjun couldn’t keep his facade up. 

Eventually the laughter died down and they ended up in a cuddle pile, Hyuka proclaiming his gratitude for pants multiple times. 


	6. Dull Bronze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taehyun was all alone.

You know that feeling of disorientation that happens sometimes after waking up. When you sit in bed and forget you even went to sleep, let alone that you were in your bedroom? Yeah that’s kind of how Taehyun felt when he had woken up in the middle of nowhere a week ago with nothing but the clothes on his back. It was a forest of yellow, orange, and red trees with deeper shades of the same color leaves. Every direction looked the same, he had nothing on him and the realization that he had in fact been banished without so much as a word to explain why. 

The after effects of the spell the warriors had used on him made his head pound. Not to mention the lingering aches and pains of his burns. Then of course it was approaching dusk and getting colder and colder. Taehyun was dressed in loose pants and a thin shirt. At least his boots would keep his feet warm. 

Yeah… that first night had been hard. He had limped in whatever direction he had been facing and hoped he would reach some kind of civilization before night came. True to his luck, none had come and he spent the night curled up against a fallen tree, using the broken branches of leaves as some kind of blanket. It probably hadn’t been best for his healing process, but what else could he do. 

The second day he stumbled upon a stream of water. He had fallen to his knees, stuck his face in the water and turned it against the stream, drinking his fill. Relishing in the cool water, he scooped some up and wet his red hair. Taehyun pulled some twigs out of his hair and tried his best to wash the dirt off. The rest of the day he had followed the stream, hoping it led somewhere and if not, at least he had a supply of water. 

His third day had him wake up to a high pitched growl. He was immediately on guard, eyes bouncing around his surroundings. Taehyun heard the noise again and his eyes snapped towards the scene just upstream. 

A Cha kla was prowling around a bleeding Bul Gae. It was a strange occurrence. Bul Gae were usually ferocious creatures, fire breathing canines and all. Cha kla on the other hand were shy feline creatures that brought death to all those who touch it. Either because he hadn’t moved much, or because they were focused on each other, he wasn’t in danger. That didn’t mean the Bul Gae wasn’t. The deep red dog wasn’t in good shape. It’s left back leg was torn up, back bleeding and face carved. Poor thing was struggling against the fast attacks. It tried breathing fire at the Cha kla but the cat almost flew out of the way and landed another swipe of the paws on the dog. Puffs of fire and flashes of the black fur of the Cha kla dominated the scene until finally, a well aimed blast of fire caught the Cha kla. The feline screeched and ran off into the woods. 

He didn’t know what compelled him to do it but Taehyun followed the limping, panting creature. He had no way of healing the poor thing, he had no magic. But he still followed at a distance. The Bul Gae seemed to allow him too. It wasn’t far before they were at a den. The dog collapsed in front of it, whining pitifully. Taehyun, still afraid to approach, stayed a little away. After a couple of whines, three little balls of fur carefully came out. The pups started whining at the sight of their mother. 

But the mother turned her head to him, deep amber eyes staring. She didn’t seem to fear him or want to harm him, so he stepped forwards carefully. Maybe he could help her. Taehyun had never drawn magic from a living creature before, it was advanced magic, but he could try. Gently kneeling by the dog, the pups retreated into the entrance of the cave, eyeing him warily. 

“Okay girl” he breathed shakily. He reached his hands out to her leg, the worst of it. She was pulsing with magic in the way those with natural magic did. Hers was fading fast though, she was dying. Taehyun grabbed onto her magic and started to mutter the same spell Sojung and the other healing mages had used on him. She had been right to say it took a lot of magic because the more he healed her wounds, the more he was killing her. Not wanting to kill her by taking all her magic, he stopped when the bleeding stopped. The Bul Gae sagged back on the floor, blood from her other wounds pooling around her. There was nothing he could do for her and he had never felt like such a failure. 

The fourth day saw him burying the Bul Gae mother and debating what to do with the pups. There were three of them, two were deep red like their mom, the other frosty white. He had heard stories of white Bul Gae. The red ones were said to breath the fire of the sun, the white ones the frost of the moon. These pups probably hadn’t been weaned yet. Taehyun himself had only eaten berries he had found. These pups needed meat. 

His fifth day had Taehyun carrying three pups in his arms. As advantageous as it would be to leave them behind and continue on without that responsibility, he couldn’t. The mage had failed their mother, he didn’t want to fail her pups. They traveled down the stream again, stopping to drink every once in a while. He was determined to find something to feed the pups. 

Today was the sixth day and he was staring at a Lilma, common animals with decent fur and meat. The pups in his arms were hungry, they kept trying to suckle on his fingers. He had no weapons, and nothing to draw magic off of but the pups. Their magic was strong, but their bodies might not be able to handle it if he took much from them. Spells flashed through his head, the ones that took the least amount of magic and could be useful. He looked down at the female red pup whose magic was strongest and mentally apologized as he pulled magic from her to send sharp pieces of bark from the nearby tree into the animal. 

Thankfully it hit and the Lilma went down, struggling to get on its legs again but losing blood quickly. Also thankfully the pup didn’t whine or anything, just fidgeted in her sleep. Not wanting to leave them without the warmth they desperately needed, Taehyung took his flimsy shirt off and blanketed it around them. He walked towards the dying animal and winced as he drained its magic to make a fire. At least it didn’t die painfully. The mage brought the pups closer to the fire and smiled for the first time in days at the sight of the pups looking peaceful and content. 

“What am I supposed to be doing?” He wondered aloud. Staring at the animal he killed, he sighed, carefully taking the sharp shards of bark from its neck. He used the sharpest one to haphazardly skin the beast. Lilma’s were fawn like creatures, with a medium length coat that was often a deep orange color to blend in with the area it inhabited. 

While Taehyun had never had to hunt his own food, he had learned how to do it in theory. Go in through the stomach and clean the organs out, then cut off the meat and cook it. He hoped he skinned the poor creature right. The fur would provide him with warmth at night for him and the pups. 

“By the ancestors I never expected the smell” he turned his face away from the stomach he had accidentally pierced. Knowing he had to keep it under control he swallowed and quickly cut the rest of it out and threw it far away from them, the contents leaking out onto the forest floor. Sucking it up, Taehyung cut the rest of the organs out, not knowing what was edible or not he just left himself with the meat. 

The pups must’ve smelled the meat because he heard their little whines. Chuckling, Taehyung cut small pieces they could easily swallow. Ruining his white shirt with blood, Taehyun gently offered the meat to the pups, holding it out on his finger for them to eat. Thankfully they were old enough to have some teeth. Their amber eyes stared up at him as they ate, happy to be getting food. He fed them until the pups seemed content and sleepy. Leaving them briefly, he made his way to the stream not far away and scrubbed the blood from his hands and arms. 

Thank the ancestors he cut the meat thin to cook faster because by the time he got back the meat was sizzling on the ribs he had propped over the fire. The pups moved, probably hearing him come back. Finally having something to eat in his shrinking stomach felt great. So did sitting by a warm fire. 

Honestly without the need to focus on his basic needs, Taehyun felt angry tears gather in his eyes. The mage had been banished from the only home he ever knew because the council was stupid enough to fooled by Yul. The thought made his blood boil, he was starving out here while Yul was on a merry quest. 

A yip broke his dark thoughts. The only boy, one of the red pups was crawling over to him, little paws unable to keep him up for long. Somehow the sight endeared him. Taehyun may have been banished and abandoned but at least he wasn’t alone. Scooping the pup up, he placed him in his lap, the pup curled up. 

“Guess I should name you guys” he said, petting the pups soft head. It’s little tongue stuck out in response. He chuckled. 

“Kuri?” He wondered aloud. The pup stared at him and he just softly poked the orange patch on his chest. In response, the pup licked his hand. He smiled. “Kuri it is”

“Now what about your sisters?” He asked the newly named pup. “Obviously the white one is Nun, she’s as white as snow”

“And what about your little twin?” Kuri just laid his little red head on Taehyun’s leg. Nun’s amber eyes popped out of the shirt bundle and the unnamed girl was close behind her. The perking of her floppy ears was enough for him. “Min?”

“Kuri, Nun, and Min” he smiled. The mage reached over to pile the pups in his lap and he slung the dirty shirt over his head. Until the fur was dry, his body heat would have to be enough with the fire. 

  
  


Another week and the pups were big enough to run alongside him on their own. Still, they were pups and got tired much faster that way. The fur from his first kill had been clumsily cut, so he made a sort of bag out of it. Taehyun had tied the long ends together and cupped the wider part to carry the growing pups when they got tired. Nun had turned out to be the most energetic, she would run circles around them and it took her twice as long to tire out. Min was a clever pup, she had been the first to figure out how to breathe fire. Taehyun could’ve lost a finger in the process, but luckily his burn was healing nicely. 

The mage was making a habit of picking up scars now. Kuri had mastered fire next, catching the hair on Taehyun’s neck on fire. He had snuffed it out but there was a light burn there that was not nearly as bad as the one on his finger. Kuri had a special place in his heart though. The pup was so cute and cuddly with him how could he not adore him. 

They had not come across any village yet, much to his disappointment. Taehyun had gathered more tools to use though. The sharp bark pieces in his pocket, along with some of the sturdier and sharper bone from his first kill. Taehyun had been mostly eating berries and saving the meat pieces for the pups. The meat was probably going bad by now but he didn’t have anything else to feed them. 

A tiny bark from Nun caught his attention and he looked to where she was staring. It was an old cottage, abandoned by the look of the tree that had fallen on it. Most of the building was intact though, he could probably get inside. Maybe there were tools or something. Nun and Min were sniffing around while Kuri napped against his chest. Ducking through an opening, he observed his surroundings. 

Not a lot was left, an old broken down table, the frame of a bed, some cracked glass jars, nothing of use. He sighed, disappointed with himself for getting his hopes up when he knew how unlucky he was. 

That was until he saw something glimmer under the fallen tree. He carefully grabbed it, trying not to cut himself on the obvious blade it was. Lucky for him, the blade was dull. Taehyun gripped it tight and pulled. The blade didn’t even budge from under the tree. If he wanted it he’d have to move the dead tree. Kuri nuzzled into his shirt and he sighed. 

Taehyun tried not to use the pups magic as much as possible, he had only used Min’s magic that one time to take down their food. But he wasn’t supposed to be taking their magic, he needed to care for the pups. The blade would come in handy even if it was dull. 

Hoping that something around here besides the pups had enough magic to move the tree, he reached out to sense the magic around him. Because mages don’t have their own magic, they had excellent senses to detect magic around them. Of course the pups were what he felt first but he ignored their magic and could feel the low amounts of magic around him. The bedframe was giving off the most magic. It might just be enough to get the tree off.

“Nun! Min!” he called for the two other pups. They came running over to him and he smiled, picking each one up and putting all three together against his chest. Taehyun then started to get to work. He pulled on the bed’s magic, directing it into himself. Mumbling his spell, he could see the tree shift and creak over until it laid outside the house. With relief, Taehyung smiled seeing what had been under the tree. It was indeed a sword, but also other things. Dead leaves were coating a lot of the floor, but he could see a bag, a real bag and not just his makeshift one. There was also an old waterskin that seemed to have holes in it, but when he finds some more magic he can fix that up. Other than those finds, there was nothing but leaves and crushed objects. Deciding it would be nice to sleep under a roof, even one that was half torn down, Taehyun began to set up camp. The pups were happy to sniff around some more, even Kuri explored a bit with his sisters. Taehyung got started on gathering some firewood. He even found a flat enough stone he could try and sharpen the sword on. Who knew if it worked or not but he had all the time in the world.

What caught his attention was a nest in one of the branches above his head. It looked like a bird nest, maybe there would be eggs. Taehyun was not a skilled tree climber, but in the end he made it up there only to be disappointed at the lack of eggs. Just as he was about to try and get down, he saw a tree ahead that was bearing fruit. Finally, a break of berries. He could almost cry in happiness when he noticed their familiar shape. Kleppi fruit might not be a delicacy, but they were edible and the taste was not bad. He’d take it any day.

Taehyun was glad nobody else was here to see him struggle off that tree. First he was going to try and slide down the trunk, then decided against it halfway through when his hands were burning. It turned into him trying to jump off the tree, but he kind of just landed on his butt. Well, that was another bruise to add to the list. All of the pups had heard his fall and went to him. He smiled as they sniffed over him, little tongues licking his hands. They weren’t bad, just the first few layers of skin were torn. Taehyun was perfectly well enough to give each pup rubs for their care of him.

“I found some fruits” he told them. Min and Nun were already off towards the tree as if they knew exactly what he was talking about while Kuri let the mage put him in the pouch against his chest. He walked after the two Bul Gae’s and laughed at the tongue licking his neck. Taehyun made it to the fruit tree after the four legged pups but was happy to see them running around each other, fur on the back of their neck standing up. Thankfully the branches were low enough to the ground he could grab a few just by standing on the tips of his toes.

Kleppi fruit was about the size of a mage’s heart. They were bright yellow with pinkish tints in some areas when they were ripe. Right now, Taehyun had never seen anything so delicious looking. Just as he was about to take a bite, Nun let out a whimperish bark. His head shot around just in time to duck. An arrow was notched in the tree. Taehyun dove out of the way, hand cradling the pup on his chest so he didn’t move or get too hurt with his motions. He grabbed onto the blunt sword he carried, hoping maybe he could bash his attackers head in. 

“Surrender mage!” It was a woman’s voice, high and pitched. Another whimper came from one of the pups. Deciding he didn’t want them hurt, he hesitates and looks towards the voice. The woman was a nymph, her intricate braids showing what tree she lived in. It was a custom many female nymphs did, although not all. Her arrow was notched and aimed at him. She was a nymph, their connection with nature didn’t just end with trees, animals were also precious to them. She wouldn’t harm the pups. So he dropped the sword and held up his hands.

“I surrender” he said. She kept her bow at the ready and walked closer to him. Min began to growl as she approached. “It’s okay girl” she quieted down but stalked closer to his legs with Nun in tow.

“I will kill you if you allow them to attack” the nymph said. He nodded. She took that as a good sign and took his outstretched hands. Taehyun let her tie them, Kuri was still against his chest, brown eyes watching the nymph’s every move.

  
  


She took him deeper into the forest, further from the stream. Nun and Min followed closely, ears perked up in alertness. His heart was pounding in his chest, did he survive both those attacks from Yul just to get killed while trying to eat food? The nymph hadn’t said a word to him the entire time, just led him by the rope tied to his hands. A tiny yelp came from behind him. It was Nun. He stopped walking, which the nymph didn’t like but he pulled on the rope and went to his pup. Everything seemed fine except her paw was lifted off the ground like it was a pain to walk on. Ignoring the tug on his rope, Taehyun struggled to pick her up.

“Get up” she said. He ignored her and tried to get Nun to crawl on his tied wrists. “Up, Mage!” this time she tugged him hard enough to fall over. Nun stood still, paw still curled up.

“She hurt her leg” he hissed. “Let me carry her” The nymph glanced over at the white pup and he could see her eyes soften at the hurt expression on Nun. She nodded, letting him call the Bul Gae over. “It’s okay, come here Nun” the pup limped over onto his arms and he struggled a bit to get her in the pouch.

Kuri was quick to make room for his sister though, something that under different circumstances would have made Taehyun smile. They got walking again, Min the lone pup by his feet. It wasn’t long before they reached a clearing and she stopped him. Before he could ask anything she let out a bellowing scream. It wasn’t one of pain or anger, just a scream. Was she trying to scare away all the animals or was she signaling someone of her presence?

“Wait here” she said, not making any move. He looked around the clearing, trying to see if there was anyone coming out. The nymph just stood there, like a statue while he looked around. The pups were even feeling uneasy, fluffy heads were turning against his chest. He looked down at Min, she sat by his feet, looking around like he had been. She suddenly turned her head, but not to look at the forest, but up at the sky. Taehyun wished he could lift his hand up to shield his eyes from the glaring sun, but just as quickly as he wished that, the large outline of wings clouded the sun. It was a dragon, large and pure light silver.

It sent a bolt of fear through Taehyun. Mages and Dragons did not have a good history with one another. Taehyun wasn’t stupid enough to believe that what he had learned about the war in school was all there was to it. But he still didn’t know the Dragon’s version of it, mostly because hardly anyone had seen a dragon anymore.

Long ago mages had lived in peace with all the other races. Gradually over the years as they grew in population, the demand for more magical objects grew. As demand grows and the regular providers can’t provide, others do horrible things to get what could make them money. Murdering other races for use of their body parts grew, so did theft, and destruction. Mages were only growing in population and other races couldn’t fight back. He had learned in school that there had never been anything like the black market, but one only needs to dig deeper to see the inaccuracies in his teachings.

It wasn’t until the Dragons stepped in that the war started. At school they said that because of the dropping population of Dragons and the rise of Mages, the Dragons had started to see them as a threat and attacked.

Taehyun still didn’t know for sure if the war had started because of that or for another reason. What he assumed was that a group of Mages might have stolen something from a family of Dragons or even killed one to use their magic. Either way, he wasn’t so far up the council’s butt as to believe everything they taught him. Probably even more now that he knew exactly how corrupt and horrid they were against their own people. The ancestors only knew what happened during the war.

The Dragon above them circled a few times before landing in the clearing. The pups all whined and Min even hid behind his leg. Taehyun knelt down, letting her stay close to him. The nymph didn’t like that and tugged on his rope. He stumbled forwards a bit but Min came forward with him, head resting on his leg. 

He wasn’t stupid enough to believe this Dragon would let him go, best case scenario he died quick. Even in his education, Mages had killed off most of the Dragons. If that was the story he was taught, this Dragon must have learned something far worse. The pups were still young though, they couldn’t hunt for themselves yet. He could tell by the lack of the large shadow that the Dragon had shifted into their human form. Taehyun took a steadying breath, eyes on the only beings he had ever had such a pure and loving bond with.

“He’s a Mage” the nymph’s voice had obvious distaste in her voice. He ignored her, keeping his head down, eyes on his pups. 

“A lone Mage?” the voice was that of a man, deep and steady. The sound made his fingers twitch, though he had no idea why.

“I know of our history. I understand what you’ll do to me, but the pups are innocent. They can’t hunt for themselves yet” his voice wasn’t nearly as emotional as he felt. The chuckle that came made him look up. The man was beautiful. His hair was the same pale silver of his scales. He had a V shaped face. Even though he was looking at the nymph, he could see his eyes were a bit downturned and his lips were a pretty pink. Why did he have to be killed by the hottest man he’d ever seen? By the ancestors his luck was horrible.

“You want me t-” A sharp pain overcame his neck and jaw. It wasn’t nearly as bad as his second electrocution, but it was enough for him to fall on his butt, tied hands struggling against the rope. Thankfully the pain was gone soon enough and he was staring into the eyes of the Dragon. Tears were coming down his face and the nymph was supporting him. Right where Taehyun had felt that pain, he could see markings on the Dragon’s face. There were three lines coming from his neck. One was shaped like flames, going up to the bottom of his right ear, the second was shaped like vines, stopping at his bottom lip, the last was a bolt of lightning going up to his left ear. 

As soon as he realized the color was a deep bronze, he could almost hear the most bloodcurdling scream of pain ever. It didn’t sound like someone screaming next to him. It sounded as if the scream was coming from his own mind, but it wasn’t his own mind.

“Our mate”

  
  


“Babe, you’ve been trying all day, take a break” Yeonjun sighed. Soobin sighed.

“Maybe I can’t do it on demand, what if I only travel when there’s danger” he looked up at his mate. Yeonjun was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the trunk of a tree. It was probably because he hadn’t seen him all day, but Yeonjun looked sexier than usual in that position. Looking down at him, muscles showing off his arms, his imagination was running rampant already.

“I’m not letting you do anything that would cause you harm on purpose” his husband said, walking towards Soobin and away from the tree. If Soobin wasn’t so afraid of Kai popping out of one of these trees he would totally suggest Yeonjun shove him against one. “Stop trying to get in my pants, I’m not going to let you try anything dangerous, got it?”

“Yes sir” he winked. The dragon scoffed, but even Soobin could see the slight flush on his cheeks. 

“I’ve made a monster of you” he chuckled. Soobin laughed.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the big bad dragon?” Soobin stood up, smiling down at his husband with nothing but the affection he felt. Jesus he had become such a fucking flirt. It was the Yeonjun effect he supposed.

“Hush” he rolled his eyes. Soobin wrapped his arms around the elder’s waist, smiling wide at his lover.

“Come on babe, I’m serious about you taking a break. It’s not good to focus all your attention on this. It’ll only cause you more stress” by the furrow of his brow, Soobin could tell his mate was as serious as he said.

“I know Junnie, I’ll stop for today, maybe I can try again in a few days” he suggested. With a hum of approval, Yeonjun tucked his head into Soobin’s neck. Any stress he had from trying to find a way to travel back to his plane was melted away when he rested his cheek on the fluff of purple and blue.

“Thank you” Yeonjun whispered, body relaxing further against him.

“I promise to stop trying forever if you let me hold you until we die” he said. The shifter let out a soft snort.

“No promises, but I do agree you should be hugging me at all times” Soobin smiled at his response. As much as he wanted to figure out how and why he could travel between the planes, he would stop trying the moment Yeonjun asked him. It would have been crazy back on Earth to already be so devoted and in love as he was with Yeonjun. Despite his lack of any skills made for Veloria, as long as it had his mate, he would never be able to stay away. Just as he was about to say so, a painstaking shriek came from the forest.

“That sounded like Hyuka” Yeonjun pushed out of the hug, on alert. Soobin grabbed his husbands hand.

“Over here” they ran towards the direction of the scream. It was nerve-wracking to think about what could have caused Kai to make such a disturbing noise. What if they were too late and he was dead by the time they found him. God he couldn’t handle that. But no, that wouldn’t happen, their sapling could pack one hell of a punch. Their first meeting was more than enough evidence that Hyuka could handle himself. Yeonjun saw the nymph first, darting towards him almost as if he had wings in his human form.

Kai was lying on the ground, quivering in pain. A quick scan with his eyes saw no blood. There wasn’t anyone around them either, no obvious wound or cause for the state he was in. The nymph was clutching his heart, curled in on himself, little whimpers leaving his lips. The whole scene made his own heart ache. Yeonjun was on the ground by him, hands checking for anything.

“Hyuka, we’re here, what’s wrong?” The dragon’s voice was as frantic as they both felt. Soobin knelt by the shaking boy too, scared that he would hurt him unintentionally if he touched him. The nymph didn’t respond with words, just the most pitiful cries and whimpers Soobin had ever heard. “Binnie” Yeonjun looked up at him in alarm.

“What, what is it?” but he didn’t need an explanation when Kai turned over to face him, eyes closed tight in pain. It wasn’t his eyes that drew his attention, it was his face. Wrapped around his neck like a necklace were three lines, a line of flame, lightning, and vines crawling up his face. The same dull bronze he saw before on Felix and Chan.

Kai had soulmates.


	7. Silver Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were only getting along for the sake of their bond. 
> 
> And their other mate.

Obviously Taehyun knew about soulbonds. For many species it was instrumental in how their communities worked. The thing was, he never expected to have one, let alone two. Mages rarely ever had soulmates. Even amongst non soul bond species, their average for having a mate was low. Which probably explains why he had never spent much time reading about it. But here he was, standing in front of a dragon, bond trying to settle. It couldn’t without their other mate. 

It was almost instinctual how he could feel him, both of them. Their missing mate was calling out for them. Until they found him his pain would only increase. The thought of his mate being in such pain felt like someone was chopping up his heart. Taehyun couldn’t do anything, he was tied up and had no way of following this instinct to find him. Desperately, he looked at the contemplating dragon. 

“Untie me” he demanded. The dragon stared at him, almost as if lost in thought. 

“Not a chance” the nymph said. She turned to the dragon, getting his attention. “What if this is some kind of mage trickery, you can not untie him”

“There is no magic more powerful than a soul bond, not even wizards can create one” Taehyun argued. The dragon looked back at him, pretty brown eyes shimmering like his scales had. “You know I can’t harm you, if you keep me tied up fine, what we need to do right now is find our mate”

“He’s right” the dragon said. Much to Taehyun’s embarrassment and deep down to his pleasure, the dragon began to undo his shirt. The nymph looked away like she had been expecting this. “Noona, look after everything for me while I’m gone”

“You can’t be thinking of letting the  _ mage _ ride you?” She exclaimed. Ride him? By the ancestors he was going to die. 

“He is my mate, under our customs he is allowed” the dragon said, kicking off his pants. Well then, Taehyun could have done much worse. “I sense your attraction mage, we do not have the time”

“Then get shifting already” he muttered, blush rising on his cheeks. The dragon scoffed. 

“Eunbi Noona will take good care of your pups until we return” the dragon said, voice louder as he walked further away from them to shift. 

“What? No, I’m taking them with me!” He yelled back. The dragon rolled his eyes and shifted. Once more he was a beautiful creature with dazzling silver scales and regal blue eyes. 

_ “You will not need their magic” _ the dragon said into his mind. Need their magic? That siren scale eating flauxworm. Clenching his jaw, Taehyun tried his best to connect to the dragons mind as he had done to the mage. 

_ “I do not use their magic, they are my pups, I raise them, hunt for them, feed them, and care for them. They come with me because I will not leave them. Unless you want me to make your life a living hell for this entire trip I suggest you let me bring them”  _ he snapped back. The dragon let out a huff of smoke, but that didn’t deter him. Taehyun was not leaving the pups. The nymph, Eunbi came over and undid his ropes. As soon as he was free, he picked Min up and stormed over to the waiting dragon. The stupid lizard didn’t even move to help him get up. 

“Unreasonable, overgrown bird” Taehyun said a little too loudly as he struggled up the side of his new soul mate. Why was his luck so bad?

“Mage!” Eunbi called out. He turned to her to tell her he had a name but she just tossed the clothes the dragon had shed. “He’ll need it when he shifts back” Taehyun just sighed and took the bundled up wad. 

_ “Grab hold of something”  _ the dragon said. The mage’s hands fumbled around for something besides smooth scales. Finally he found some upturned scales for him to rest his feet and hands on. He was careful not to crush the pups as he situated himself. Hoping to shield them from some of the wind he would face, he spread out the shirt over the opening of the pouch and tucked the pants under his stomach as some sort of cushion. 

_ “Ready” _ Taehyun replied. The dragon didn’t take a second to flap his great big wings and lift them into the sky. 

He had never even dreamt of flying. Air was the hardest element for mages and wizards to handle. Only a skilled few could manipulate it. There had only ever been one mage in history who could manipulate air to the extent of flying. Most mages wrote off trying to be so powerful, including him. Right now though, right now he could understand why some devoted their whole life to trying. Sure the wind was loud, the air was cold, he was uncomfortable, and racing towards his sick mate, but it was still unlike anything he had ever felt. It was magnificent. 

_ “What’s your name mage?” _ The dragon reminded him that it wasn’t just Taehyun flying towards his mate. 

_ “Kang Taehyun” _ he said. 

_ “I’m Choi Beomgyu”  _ he seemed like he wanted to say more. Taehyun could almost guess what he wanted to say.  _ “How were you surviving in the forest without using the magic of those pups?” _ There it was. 

_ “I’ve been eating berries, we had some meat that I managed to hunt but I saved it for my pups” _ he tried not to sound as annoyed as he was feeling. Why was it so hard to believe he wasn’t using the three pups for their magic but caring for them. Did mages have such a reputation that him not using a living beings magic was such a shock?

_ “How did you hunt the meat?” _ And he was fucking trapped because if Beomgyu could feel his attraction earlier, he would be able to feel his lies now.  _ “You used their magic” _

_ “They were starving” _ he defended himself. The dragon scoffed in Taehyun’s head. 

_ “It does not change the fact that like every other mage you stole magic from an innocent being” _ Beomgyu argued. Taehyun clenched his jaw once more, wanting to open his mouth and scream at the beast. 

_ “I used the least powerful spell I could possibly use, for the benefit of keeping my pups alive” _ he was not in the wrong here. Taehyun could have easily sucked up their magic for his own gain and kill them in the process but he didn’t because he couldn’t. 

_ “The pups can’t give consent”  _

_ “They also couldn’t give consent if they had died”  _ he snapped back. Sick of hearing the stupid dragons voice in his head, Taehyun focused on blocking Beomgyu out of his mind. Whether Beomgyu couldn’t actually get through to him or he was respecting his boundaries, the dragon didn’t say anything back to him.

Their silence after that was awkward and the mage tried not to think too hard about it. Instead he found himself getting lost in his own thoughts. Mostly they were about his newfound mates. It was abundantly clear that Beomgyu was not warming up to him, probably couldn’t get past the fact he was a mage. Part of him wanted to be mad and resentful that his mate would be so judgemental based off of something he couldn’t control instead of just trying to find out more about him. Maybe instead of jumping to conclusions about his pups, he could ask him how he found them, their names, you know normal questions. On the other hand, how could he be so angry and resentful when Beomgyu was one of the last of his kind. It was natural for him to be cautious and maybe even blame the mages for what happened. Taehyun just hoped his other mate wouldn’t be so hostile.

But then he started to worry that their other mate would also hate him. What if on top of being banished from the rest of his race, he wasn’t accepted by his mates. Taehyun didn’t know if he could handle that, he had lost anything and everything precious to him besides the pups. Would they judge him for being banished along with his mage ancestry? If by some miracle they decided to accept him, could they even stomach the idea of being with a mage, let alone one as scarred up as he was. Taehyun tried not to focus on his scars, distracting himself with the pups or finding food.

The thing was they were there and more often than he would like to admit, it was almost like he could feel the electricity going through him. Like it was still inside him, numbing his torso, making his leg twitch, or even the constant sensitivity and almost constant tingling across his body. It wasn’t just that he was a mage, he wasn’t in good shape anymore. So on top of being a banished mage, he was a defective one too.

Taehyun let out a sigh, when would he catch a break? All he wanted was a break. Lately everything had been happening so fast he felt like any moment he would fall to the floor in defeat. The most he could do was try. Try to show his mates that he wasn’t worthless.

He didn’t feel very useful at the moment, riding on a dragon’s back, doing nothing to help find his other mate. What could he do as a mage without any magic. On top of his apparent worthlessness, he could feel their mates pain. It was like a constant ache in his heart and his head, telling him something was wrong. Like their mate was reaching through what little bond they had developed and pleading for his help. Yet, all he could do was sit back and let the dragon do all the work.

However it was just as he was thinking about his lack of ability that Beomgyu let out a pained roar under him. Quick to try and find out what was happening, Taehyun reached out through their bond and he could feel it. Something was stuck in the dragon’s leg. Whatever had injured his mate, was dragging them down from the clouds. It was then that he saw a giant lance come from below them and disappear below him, into Beomgyu’s side.

  
  


Soobin was out of breath from carrying Kai through the caves to their bedroom. Yeonjun had the nymphs arms and he had his legs. Slowly they managed to get the poor kid on the bed despite his writhing and whimpers of pain. The marks around his neck, going up his face a reminder that he was in this pain because he had soulmates. Every second that passed had him more and more anxious for their arrival. They had decided to get Hyuka in the cave for the time being, letting one watch over him with what he might need at their disposal while the other patrolled down below to see if the mates were coming.

“Be safe babe” Soobin panted. Yeonjun nodded, hand coming up to brush some sweat from his forehead. Soobin could tell his husband was just as apprehensive about leaving Kai as he would be. “We’ll be fine, I’ll send out an S.O.S if something happens”

“I don’t know what that is but tell me if something happens” Yeonjun pouted, plump lips pursing together in worry. Soobin smiled at his worry, leaning down to peck those pouty lips.

“I will, love you”

“Love you too” Yeonjun smiled against his lips and then sighed. The shifter took a sword and a knife and left the alcove. Soobin couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath. Kai let out another whimper and he was grabbing at Soobin’s hand.

“Hyung, what’s going on?” the human was quick to take a seat by the nymph. He was sweating, dark hair sticking to his forehead. 

“Your mates have found each other, they’re on their way” he said, brushing the soaked hair off his face.

“Mates?” his eyes were watery, like he was trying not to cry. Soobin nodded.

“Yep, they’re coming right now, just get some rest sapling” the nymph made a noise of protest.

“Cuddles” Kai’s tears shed a path down his face. Like the weak man he was, Soobin melted under his gaze and pulled the boy close to his chest.

“Of course” he mumbled, moving himself around a bit so Kai was comfortable. Focused on making the little sprout as calm as he could, Soobin played with his sweaty hair and even hummed him any random songs he could think of. Hyuka didn’t need to know that a few of them weren’t exactly lullabies but more along the lines of Girls Generation and Twice.

  
  


For what it was worth, Beomgyu had tried to slow their fall. The dragon sort of succeeded, when they hit the ground, it wasn’t nearly as hard as it could have been, but it was still a rough landing. Taehyun was pitched off the side of the dragon, curling his body around the pups and tucking his head in. He groaned at the landing, already knowing he was going to have a bruise at the very least. His own pain could wait though, he could feel Beomgyu’s pain through their bond.

_ “Did you hurt anything during the landing?”  _ he asked the silver dragon. When the labored breathing of his mate was the only response, Taehyun quickly ran his eyes over his dragon form. A metal lance was piercing through his right hind leg, thankfully not through the bone, just through the muscle. The real worry was the other lance sticking in Beomgyu’s side. If he had been in his human form, it probably would’ve been hitting an organ, but Taehyun wasn’t sure if it had hit an organ or not. Dragon’s shifted forms were differently built than their human side was.

What Taehyun did know was that his mate was injured and he had to help. The mage examined the worst wound first. He knew that taking out the lance right now would only cause more bleeding and potentially more damage if he didn’t do it right. Plus he didn’t have anything magical with him besides Beomgyu and the pups. After their last conversation he knew better than to use the dragon’s magic. All they had brought were the pups and Beomgyu’s clothes. Letting out a shaky and hopeful laugh, Taehyun grabbed at the clothes huddled over his pups. Thankfully all three seemed fine and looking around in alarm. Min even jumped out as soon as he removed the clothes. Kuri followed hesitantly, leaving Nun and her injured leg with Taehyun. He let the pups explore as he reached out to sense how much magic the clothes held.

Before he could even try to reach out though, he heard footsteps almost running towards them. He quickly ducked under Beomyu’s wing, hiding himself the best he could. Four people came through the fallen trees, three men and one woman. They were all decked out in hunting gear, knives, swords, bows, arrows, they had it all on their persons. And all he had were his mates' clothes. Yeah, his luck was seriously the worst.

“It’s still alive, grab one of the lances and stab it through the neck” the woman said, not sparing a glance at the three men behind her. Just as the burliest man was stepping forwards he was engulfed in flames. Everything after that happened fast.

The other three raised their weapons up in defense and Taehyun could see the woman had a wizard’s staff while the other two had obscure objects. A wizard and two mages. Taehyun’s best guess was that the man currently running around on fire was another mage. What Taehyun knew so far was that the blast of fire had to be from one of the pups because he could feel that Beomgyu was still unconscious. The group also seemed to realize that fact.

“Fan out” the wizard ordered, staff in one hand and a dagger in the other. Taehyun had to single one of them out first, the wizard would be optimal but she seemed like the leader and Taehyun didn’t have much to fight with. The burly man was laying in a charred crisp not far from where Taehyun was hiding out. The shortest man was fast, almost running off as soon as the wizard gave orders. That left him with the older mage. Knowing that the council only gave quests to experienced or formidable wizards and mages, Taehyun was a little hesitant but at the same time he couldn’t let them kill his mate and his pups.

So he waited for the wizard to move far enough away from the older mage before he set down the pouch holding Nun. She made a little noise but luckily it was muffled by the large wing covering them. The moment the older mage had his back turned, Taehyun felt for the magic in the bundled up clothes and decided they held enough for him to use more simple spells. He reached out and pulled the magic away from the clothes, whispering his spell. Bark from the nearby trees snapped off, sharp shards flying towards the old man. He dodged a few and even muttered a counter spell before Taehyun attacked from behind. Running as fast as he could, Taehyun jumped on the mage’s back, arm wrapping around him in a chokehold. The mage reached behind to hit him and even though he managed to land a few, he grew weak and eventually they fell to the ground, the man dead. Taehyun grabbed his weapons, hoping they weren’t loud enough to alert the other two.

What he always seemed to forget was that Taehyun was the unluckiest person to ever walk Veloria because just as he grabbed the man’s knife, the other mage was back and already shouting out a spell. He jumped out of the way just in time, the spell hitting the tree behind him, a huge hole blasted through the middle. Adrenaline urging him forwards, Taehyun threw the knife expertly at the mage who barely dodged it before shooting off another spell. Ducking down, Taehyun grabbed the sword he had taken off the old mage and charged headfirst. The smaller mage shot another spell that he jumped out of the way of. Knowing he had his chance, Taehyun swung the sword and was happy to see that although the other mage dodged, the hit still landed. There was a decently deep wound in his leg.

The mage stumbled to the side and Taehyun took that chance too. He swung with both hands, sword coming down on his head. The sickening crack that followed would’ve made him throw up if he didn’t have literally nothing in his stomach. Falling down, the short mage laid dead with a pool of blood surrounding him.

“Mage!” it was the wizards voice. She stood in front of him angrily. The wizard was probably just getting angrier at the sight of her friend’s blood splattered on him. It was her eyes falling on his bonding mark that had her face light up in realization. “What a disgrace to your entire race”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before lady” Taehyun sneered at her before attacking. She held him off with her staff and swiped at him with the dagger in her other hand. He backed away from the slash and even tried a swipe at her legs. She jumped over the move and shouted a spell at him. A sudden burning hit his chest. Because of his nerve damage though, he only felt it a bit. Taehyun quickly flung the acid soaked shirt off himself.

“You’ve fought a wizard before then” she chuckled, looking at the scars tracing his chest. Thankfully the acid was only really burning at his skin where he had the most nerve damage.

“Yeah, I did, but that was before I had a mate to protect” he swung at her. She met the hit with her staff. Straining his arm, he used one hand to grab the wizard’s arm that was coming to stab him with the dagger. They struggled against each other’s strength for a bit before he saw it. Beomgyu’s blue dragon eyes were open. “And a mate to protect me”

He jumped out of the way as Beomgyu released a torrent of fire at her. He couldn’t focus on her screams as he hit the cold ground, keeping low while the fire flew so close to him. It felt like forever before the heat over his back stopped. Taehyun desperately wanted to take time to just rest in the dirt, but he could feel the pain his mate was feeling. When he got up, Beomgyu was breathing heavily, eyes slitted open. Mustering up his courage, Taehyun kicked through the ongoing fire that had been the wizard to take her smoldering staff. It was embedded with more than enough magic for him to help Beomgyu. In fact it was the most magical thing he had ever held.

_ “Hang on, I’ve got to heal your wounds” _ he walked over to the area where the lance hit. He laid a hand on the smooth silver scales and used a bit of magic to reach out. He felt dread hit him when he realized the lance had hit Beomgyu’s pancreas. Taehyun had the magic to heal him though, he could do this. Careful to pull the lance out in the same angle it went in, Taehyun winced at the rush of blood that followed the tip of the lance. He immediately got to work, hands covering the wound, mouth muttering the spell that he had heard so many times in one day. He could almost feel the organ sealing itself shut, then the skin. Soon enough the wound was just a patch of scabbed over dragonhide. With a deep breath, he moved onto the leg wound.

A bark grabbed his attention. Nun was sitting under Beomgyu’s wing with Kuri and Min sniffing around her. Taehyun was glad to see they weren’t injured, maybe he did have some luck. It made getting back to healing his mate easier with the knowledge they were safe. It wasn’t long before he had both wounds healed. Beomgyu stayed in his dragon form.

_ “The sooner we get back in the air, the sooner we can find our mate” _ he explained. Taehyun pursed his lips.

_ “That’s true, but how about you rest for a little while, in whatever form heals you faster” _

_ “Our mate-” _

_ “Isn’t going to die, they may be in pain, but yours is more immediate” _ he cut the dragon off. There was a huff of fire, like a scoff and Taehyun rolled his eyes.

_ “I understand why our marks have a lightning bolt” _ he commented instead of arguing back. Taehyun sighed, looking down at his chest. The acid had opened a new wound on his skin and he cursed before using the staff’s magic to wash it away and heal it.  _ “You didn’t feel the pain?” _

_ “No, I can’t feel any pain there”  _ he responded, hands reaching out to Beomgyu’s discarded shirt. He pulled it over his head, not even asking if he could.  _ “Rest” _

  
  


Soobin was getting more and more worried. This was his second shift taking care of Kai. It had been hours since the bond began and Hyuka wasn’t looking any better. Thankfully he wasn’t looking any worse either, but it was still worrying both him and Yeonjun. Hyuka hardly drank any water and was refusing food. 

Yeonjun had told him that if the separation of the mates killed Kai, it would take weeks if not months. It was a holdover from times before their advanced transportation. Soobin wanted to laugh, Veloria’s advanced transportation was the equivalent of horses.

“Hyung” Kai shook him out of his stupor. “You said my mates earlier” he was shivering under the furs, eyes barely open, but his voice was firm. 

“Yeah, you have a mating bond mark on your face” he provided. The nymph let out a little whimper. 

“I’m not supposed to have a mate” he said. That was true, nymphs didn’t have mates naturally, only if they were mates by a race that did mate. Kai knew that possibility. 

“Some nymphs have mates” he said, hoping it was just a reminder to the boy. Hyuka frowned and shook his head a little, almost looking as if his whole body was sore. 

“No, Hyung, I’m not supposed to have a mate” he said again, voice faltering this time. “I’m a tree hyung”

“Yes, I know, I’ve been to your tree” Soobin wanted to laugh at how confused he was feeling. Maybe he was stupid for not understanding him, but he honestly didn’t know where he was going with this.

“I’m not- I don’t…” Hyuka took a deep breath, eyes cast downwards almost as if he was ashamed. “Many nymphs never take a lover, or a mate… not because we can’t but because they don’t want to”

“You don’t want a mate?”

“No! I do- just- I can’t… you know” And Soobin, yeah he didn’t fucking know. So he just stared blankly at the boy. “Sex, hyung”

“What?” Soobin wanted to gag at the thought of Kai even knowing what sex was. He was their innocent sapling, he didn’t know what sex was, the human refused to believe it.

“I don’t have sex”

“Thank god you don’t” Soobin couldn’t help but blurt out. Honestly, sex was amazing and Soobin loved those moments where he and Yeonjun could just be together in every sense of the word. It wasn’t that he hoped Kai would never have a relationship like that, it just felt like acknowledging your siblings were sexually active. The nymph didn’t seem to be offended by his remark though, just let out an airy chuckle.

“Lots of nymphs never have sex, it’s just not how we create seeds. We don’t need to… do that” he was already flushed but his blush got a little deeper. “Only few nymphs find pleasure in it”

“You know you can be in love but not want sex, right?” Soobin might have grown up in a traditional society but while figuring out his own sexuality he definitely looked up other types of sexuality. 

“Of course… I just, what if my mates want me to do that?” Even through his slightly panting breaths and the sweat dripping down his face, Kai still managed to look as if it wasn’t the physical pain bothering him but this singular question. 

“I don’t have much experience with soulmates outside of my own bond, but if I do go off my own bond, I can tell you with certainty that your mates will love you as unconditionally as Yeonjun and I love each other” 

“They’ll understand?” Hyuka really did seem like a child in this moment, eyes blurred with tears, curled up under furs. Soobin would be useless if his mates didn’t understand. How would he be able to help Kai get over the rejection of a soulmate. It wasn’t like one of his roommates girlfriends dumping him, it was the person they have a physical and mental attachment to, permanently. If Kai’s soulmates decided they didn’t want to be with someone who couldn’t have sex with them, it wouldn’t be fixed with snacks, drinks, or even time. The nymph must have understood that. 

“They will” and he meant it, because the way he felt about Yeonjun, if suddenly they could never have sex again, he doesn’t think he would care so much as he had his mate by him. Soobin just had to believe that Hyuka’s mates felt the same way. 

  
  


Taehyun could almost feel the dragon’s curiosity when he woke up. The big blue eyes lingered too long on his chest for him not to notice. He understood the questions Beomgyu must have, he would be the same, it was just that he didn’t want to focus on it anymore. Taehyun had spent so much time brewing over it, trying to distract himself, doing anything to keep his mind off it. All that had done was make his banishment always in the back of his mind. 

For him the scars might have done irreversible damage to his body, but it was the mental reminder of who gave him the scars and how  _ he _ was the one who was punished. If there was one thing Taehyun didn’t need, it was for his new mates to know that he wasn’t even wanted by the most hated race of people in Veloria. It might be the lowest of the low. So even if his other mate was a mage, they would still look down on him. Once again, Taehyun’s luck was not on his side.

_ “We should get moving” _ Beomgyu interrupted his thoughts. The mage nodded, knowing that even if his other mate hated him too, Taehyun couldn’t let them be in pain for longer than he already had. Without a word, he gathered his sleeping pups and put them in his pouch. He took some of their weapons just in case they needed them again, as well as the wizard's staff. Even after all that magic, it still had a significant amount of magic left for him to take. Taehyun knew that by taking it, he wasn’t helping his standing with Beomgyu. It only solidified the dragon’s assertion that mages stole magic, but he couldn’t let something like what had happened happen again. 

They took off in silence. Even through the silence, he could feel that Beomgyu still wasn’t completely healed up. It wasn’t just through the bond he noticed it, but the change in his flying. He wasn’t flying as fast, his wings were beating around the same but if he had to guess it had to do with the dragon’s leg somehow. Taehyun guessed it could’ve had to do with his attempt at healing being a failure or it could just be the pain he had felt for days after his own healing. He hoped it was the later because he didn’t need to be a bad mage on top of a banished mage.

_ “If you need rest, tell me” _ he said after a little while.

_ “I can rest when I reach my mate” _ so that was what he thought. Of course it was, Taehyun was a mage and Beomgyu was a dragon. A magical soul bond couldn’t make them like each other. Beomgyu was just pulling him along because he had to. All mates had to be present for the bond to be complete, even he knew that. It just stung a little too much for him. Taehyun didn’t say anything back, just trying not to focus on anything.

It wasn’t long before something else grabbed his attention. Instinctually he could feel them getting closer, it was both exciting and scary. He could feel his body shaking, not because of the obvious cold they were in, but because he was nervous. No matter how he thought of it, Taehyung desperately wanted his mates to want him. Mates have always been depicted to him as being in love, unconditionally, always by each other's sides. It was everything an orphaned little mage could want.

Taehyun remembered the longing he felt when he learned about soul bonds. Everything about them seemed to bring happiness, love, care, the things he didn’t have. It had sounded like a dream, something so unattainable that he forever shoved it out of his mind as a possibility for him. Now here he was, with at least one of his mates and he wasn’t happy, loved, or even cared for. Maybe these things took time, maybe eventually Beomgyu would care for him and he would too. That was probably the only thing he had to hold onto besides the pups resting against his chest.

His nerves didn’t go away as they started to get so close he could almost feel their mate by him. Taehyun could make out the singular feeling of another mate, their mate was feeling so many emotions, but the fear was overwhelming. It outshadowed the pain they were in from the uncompleted bond. Taehyun could tell that Beomgyu noticed it too because he was starting to flap his wings faster, picking up the pace.

_ “Don’t overdo yourself” _ he told the dragon. All the mage got in response was a huff and the wings went a little faster. Taehyun rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything back. He wasn’t the one controlling their speed anyways. It felt like days before they could finally feel their mates presence tangibly, like they were just below them. Beomgyu dove down without telling him, making Taehyun grip the scales tightly and hold his breath. His ears popped as they got closer to the ground, red hair flying behind him. By the ancestors, he hoped the pups weren’t terrified. 

Below him he could see snow capped mountains. The closer they got, he noticed that within the white mountaintops, there was also a burst of purple. That purple blot was where they were heading. At least they weren’t landing directly in the middle of a highly populated city. Beomgyu wouldn’t have been able to hide himself. Just as Taehyun was able to distinguish the purple blot as trees, they landed. It wasn’t nearly as rough as last time but the mage was still jerked forwards a bit. He quickly got off the dragon and waited for him to shift. Wasting no time at all, Beomgyu shifted as soon as Taehyun was off him, grabbing his pants to hastily put on.

“They’re in this forest” Beomgyu said.

“This way” Taehyun nodded his head. The dragon was about to take a step forward when he stumbled. Taehyun was quick to grab him, helping the still healing man to stand up. Beomgyu grumbled under his breath as the mage slid his arm around his torso to help hold him up. “Come on, I know you’re anxious”

“You are too” the dragon noted. Taehyun nodded with a shuddering breath.

“Yeah, now put one foot after the other” he agreed, already starting to move in the direction he could just feel their mate was in. They only made it a few steps when they were stopped again by a pair of footsteps running towards them. Taehyun grabbed the sword on his hip, holding it out in preparation for any attack. Through the purple trees he could see a man running at them. He was taller than both of them, hair dark, and unarmed. As soon as he saw them, he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Thank fucking god” he said. Taehyun glanced at his mate, wondering if Beomgyu knew what the man had just said.

“Who are you?” the dragon asked instead. The man beamed brightly, showing off dimples on his admittedly handsome face.

“I’m Soobin, your mate-” Taehyun gripped his sword tighter, “-he’s waiting for you, come on”

_ “This could be a trap” _ Beomgyu said in his head. He was right and it had also been his first thought too. A random stranger showing up and giving them the exact news they wanted to hear was suspicious.

_ “You’re a dragon and I’m pretty handy with a sword” _ Taehyun pursed his lips, watching the man stare at them with his dimples still showing.  _ “We know our mate is near, let’s just be on guard” _

_ “I am an injured dragon and you are-” _

_ “What am I?” _ he interrupted, eyes back on his mate, challenging him. Beomgyu didn’t say anything for a moment.

_ “The one who has to hold me up” _ and yeah, he kind of was the only one who could hold him up.

“Bring us to him” he told Soobin. The stranger beamed even brighter for a second before slowly coming towards them. Taehyun held his sword out higher.

“I just want to help you carry him, I’m unarmed” Soobin said, holding his hands up. Taehyun’s eyes scanned the man, looking at the billowing white shirt, tight leather pants, and bare feet. He didn’t look like a threat. So he reached out to feel for what kind of magic this stranger had and thought for sure he was imagining things. He tried again and still there was nothing.

Even a mage had some magic radiating off them, built up from the magic surrounding them. Soobin had nothing, no magic on him or coming from him. He was impossible. Nothing in Veloria was without some kind of magic clinging to them. Yet here was an impossible man in front of them, proving him wrong.

“You’re a human” and no matter how crazy that sounded, there was no other explanation for it. No one had seen a human in hundreds of years, their plane had been closed off forever ago. But Taehyun had read about them, he had read that they gave off no magic and that no magic clung to them. Soobin seemed shocked for a minute before nodding.

“I am a human, but we can talk about that later, your mate needs you, so let me help you” the earnest look in his eyes was swaying him and it seemed to have convinced Beomgyu who swatted at the mage’s arm.

“Put it away and let’s go” he urged. Taehyun didn’t want to just follow what the dragon was saying but he did it anyway. Soobin was on Beomgyu’s other side, supporting him as soon as the sword was away.

  
  



	8. Red String

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taehyun and Beomgyu meet their mate. Soobin just can’t understand Yeonjun.

Taehyun was nervous, like heart trying to escape his chest, palms sweaty enough to drop anything handed to him, breath getting caught in his throat kind of nervous. Every step they took through the intricate cave system brought him closer to his other mate. It was like all of his doubts were trying to send him into a panic attack. Beomgyu was next to him, eyes forward and focused on the human leading them to their other mate. A nymph was what Soobin said, someone the dragon would actually like. And another person who could be the love of Taehyun’s life or the most devastating heartbreak to occur to him yet. By the ancestors why weren’t they moving faster.

“Almost there” Soobin said, long legs outpacing Taehyun. The mage glanced at his mate, his brown eyes were narrowed in front of him, almost in a glare. Taehyun could feel that the shifter was also a bundle of nerves, the difference between them was that Beomgyu was more excited than he was. 

Taehyun could sense that the opening they were approaching was the one that held their mate. He wished he knew what to do with his shaking hands. He wished he could hold his mates hand. It was mere centimeters away but it felt like there was a spell prohibiting him from reaching out. Against his chest the pups rested, heads peaked out in wonder. The mage wondered if it was superior healing or adrenaline that was making Beomgyu limp so quickly beside him. He held his breath as they rounded the entrance, debating with himself if he wanted to look up right away or hold out on the inevitable disappointment that would follow.

But that decision was made in a split second when he realized that every second he held off meeting eyes with his mate was another the nymph would spend in agony. It was the pitiful whine that really made him look though, it sounded something like what one of the pups would make when the others wouldn’t include them. There was something deeper and more human about it though, making his heart ache.

By all the ancestors his mate was beautiful though. The nymph had dark hair and dark eyes, pale skin, and a prominent nose with a bumped ridge. The moment Taehyun met his eyes, he could feel the connection between them. It was like a stream. What had once been blocked by the falling leaves was clearing away and he felt them. Both the nymph and Beomgyu, like they were in the back of his mind. He could feel an ache coming over his whole body, a mixture of their pain.

Beomgyu was the first to move, settling by the beautiful man and grabbing his hand gingerly. It was a few moments before he saw the nymph’s eyes settle back on him, narrowing. Taehyun could feel the sudden bolt of animosity run through him. Just as he had thought his other mate didn’t want him either. Beomgyu’s feelings of distrust towards him were clearer than ever and the mage knew he wasn’t being welcomed into this room. He had to get out.

So he did, Taehyun turned on his heel, tears in his eyes and ran out of the room, going down any twist in the cave passage ways he could, until he hit a dead end and the mage broke down in sobs.

* * *

Soobin was confused, one moment the two mates were running behind him in anticipation, the next the silver haired one was glaring along with Kai at the red head. A quick glance at Yeonjun had him reeling. Never before had he seen such a dark look of distaste in his mates eyes, nor the feeling of bitterness that followed. It was at that moment the terrified looking boy ran away.

That look in his eyes, it reminded him of middle school. How girls would terrorize the odd one out. Soobin couldn’t remember her name, he remembered seeing her puffy eyes when she would come back to class after lunch break. She always clung to the sleeves of her sweater, like it was the only thing keeping her grounded.

“God, she’s such an attention whore” a girl would say after seeing her come in, tears still not dried on her face after a bathroom break.

“I know, it’s like she’s begging us to talk to her” another would say. It had left a bad feeling in his chest back then. Looking back on it now, it made him sick. Not just at his classmates actions but at his own. Why had he never done anything to help? Hell, Soobin couldn’t even remember her name yet he felt so guilty for not asking once if she was okay.

Yet here he was again, watching his mate and his little sprout doing the same thing those girls had done all those years ago. He couldn’t believe it, and he couldn’t believe himself. Why wasn’t he running after the boy to comfort him? It took him another split second to run out of the cave after the boy. Soobin ran after him, through the twisting hallways until he saw the poor kid collapse in on himself, letting out heartbreaking cries of pain. He fell on his butt and wept quietly, eyes blurry with falling tears. His handsome face scrunched up in agony. Is this what happened when mates didn’t accept each other?

Soobin noticed the puppies he carried against his chest were licking at whatever they could reach, little cries adding to the devastating sight. He didn’t really know what to do, but he knew just standing there would help no one. So the human knelt down and gently wrapped an arm around the stranger’s shoulders, pulling him slowly towards his chest. The crying boy didn’t say anything, just let himself be tucked into Soobin’s embrace.

And they sat there for a long time, not a word said. Soobin rubbed his back in slow motions, letting himself run a hand through the red hair every once in a while. He could still feel the anger through his own soul bond and he had never been so disappointed in his own mate. This boy was obviously in pain and Yeonjun just glared at him like he was an annoying bug. He had run away in tears yet his husband was still filled with anger from the sight of him.

“Thank you” the boy’s voice was hoarse and filled with sadness that could bring tears to a person’s eyes. He sounded completely defeated and broken down.

“Do you want to rest? Something to eat?” he asked, still letting his hand rub circles on the boy’s back. His big brown eyes looked up at him and Soobin was kind of shocked. Even with snot dripping down his nose, he was still one of the most handsome men he had ever seen, such large features on such a small face.

“Why are you being nice to me?” he asked as if no one had ever said so much as a kind word to him. 

“Because you look like you need someone to be kind to you” and who wouldn’t when they had just met the person who was supposed to be the love of their life and they had glared at him with such loathing that Soobin had only seen on Kai once before. When they had first met and the nymph had told him about his family, about the mages that burnt his home down and killed his parents. This boy had to be a mage, otherwise there was no explanation for the reactions of his mate and of Hyuka. 

“I’m a mage” the boy bit out like he hated the word mage. It felt all too familiar for Soobin, that self hatred.

“I know and guess what” he said, voice firm. “There is nothing wrong with being a mage”

“Of course there is” he argued back, voice breaking a bit at the end. He didn’t sound angry or even annoyed, just like… like he had accepted everything in life was shit.

“Have you ever killed someone?” he challenged. Soobin hid his surprise when the boy nodded. It was sad in a way, that someone who was even younger than he was had killed someone yet he was curled in Soobin’s arm crying his eyes out. “Someone who didn’t deserve it?” he got nothing in response.

“Listen here” Soobin waited for the boy to look back up at him. “You can’t change that fact that you’re a mage, all you can do is accept it and live life the way you want to”

The boy didn’t say anything for a while, he just stared down at the puppies against his chest. Two of them were a coppery orange and the other was snow white. Soobin always thought you could tell a lot about a person by how animals reacted to them. Those puppies looked at him like he was their mother. They had licked his chest to comfort him when he was crying, they cared about him and from the way he held them so close to his chest, Soobin could tell he loved the puppies too. Maybe he was wrong and animals just liked scents or something they got from people, but he knew this boy wasn’t as horrible as the mages that killed his mates race and murdered Kai’s parents.

“I’m Kang Taehyun” he said. “Kuri is the one closest to you, Nun is the white one, and that one’s Min”

“They seem to really care for you” he noted. Taehyun nodded.

“I found them, their mom had died and they were barely old enough to have anything other than her milk. I took them with me”

“It looks like you’ve taken good care of them” he said. Taehyun gave him a small half shrug in response. Soobin pursed his lips. “Want to go somewhere with me?”

“Where?” he asked. Soobin smiled, eyes tracing the now golden soul mark creeping up the edges of his face.

“I’ll show you something amazing”

* * *

There was a tense feeling in the bedroom after the mage and human left. Beomgyu wasn’t sure how he felt about his other mate. The mage obviously thought he was different from the rest of his kind but was he really if he was still stealing magic off of other beings? If there was a human here who could live without magic then why couldn’t the mage live without magic too? If he was honest, Beomgyu had never liked mages, even before he learned of their history with the dragons.

As a hatchling he had hidden while his parents had defeated a hundred mages who came to kill them for their body parts, treasure, knowledge, and just for the genocidal title to it. They were vicious and his dad had lost a wing in that fight, never able to fly again. His mom lost an eye and his older brother had been the one who held him back from running out to cry over his bleeding parents.

They all fought to the death, forcing his parent’s hands. It had been decades but sometimes he could still faintly smell the overwhelming stench of burning flesh. He had long since avoided contact with others because of it. Now he couldn’t do that, not when he had a mage for a mate.

Taehyun had fought for him, but was it for the same reason that Beomgyu did? Did he fight because he needed Beomgyu to get to their other mate or was it something else. Even now he could feel the intense flood of feelings from the mage but it was complicated and hard to decipher. The nymph in his arms, Beomgyu could feel his anger and disappointment.

Obviously Beomgyu wasn’t naive enough to think all mages were bad because of the actions of a few, but he has yet to see a major difference between Taehyun and the rest of his kind. Everything he had done so far that could be written off as better than the average mage could was something that benefited him in some way. If there was never something Beomgyu had seen, it was a mage performing a selfless act.

“I’m Huening Kai” the nymph broke him out of his own thoughts. The shifter looked down at his other mate and wanted to melt from how sweet he looked. Even now, with the anger and sadness he was feeling, he was giving Beomgyu a smile.

“Choi Beomgyu” he returned the gesture. He had no clue what else to say, but he was just happy to have his mate in his arms. Huening Kai really was astonishingly gorgeous, such unusual features for their part of the world, but they mixed together so beautifully. The dragon had no idea that nymphs could be so beautiful.

“I think you’re handsome too” his mate blushed, tucking his head down to hide. Beomgyu chuckled, heat raising on his own face. Did he hear all of that?

“Orhaɪ” a new voice came from the other side of the room. Beomgyu’s heart skipped a beat as he looked up. There was another man he hadn’t paid much attention to before, taller than he was with pouty lips and blue and purple hair. It was instinctual the way he knew this man was kin.

“Orhaɪ” he returned the greeting of their ancestors, breathlessly. “It has been quite some time since I met another”

“For I as well” he said. “I’ve gained a mate and kin in one day” it truly was a brush of luck.

“As well as a mage for a mate” Huening Kai said, bitterness in his tone. Beomgyu couldn’t help but run a hand through his hair, hoping to soothe his mate. The other dragon sighed deeply.

“You traveled here with him?”

“Yes… So far he hasn’t portrayed any resemblance to the rest of his kind, but all the same he hasn’t shown himself to be above them” he admitted. The dragon huffed out a breath.

“The only reason I’m not burning him alive for stepping in my cave is because he’s my Hyuka’s mate” he said. Hyuka must be a nickname for Huening Kai, adorable.

“Don’t mind Yeonjun hyung, he acts like my older brother” Kai said, a sweet grin on his face. He was like a ray of sunshine, truly.

“Yeah, your older brother who had been keeping watch over you for hours” Yeonjun tsked. “Ungrateful”

“I love you hyung” Kai beamed brightly and Beomgyu could tell it wasn’t just because of their soul bond that he found the nymph to be so cute, because the other dragon melted like a puddle.

“M- Wait-” Yeonjun looked around in alert, instinctually making Beomgyu clutch his mate closer to him.

“Hyung?” Kai asked, voice laced with worry.

“Soobin’s gone” the dragon said, face lined with distress.

* * *

  
“Where are we?” Taehyun was holding his pups close to his chest as he stared around at the high rise buildings. Soobin laughed lightly at the amazement on the mage’s face. The human had transported them to his own plane. It had been a while since he had been back home, but the looks they were getting as they stood on the street were funny enough. It was winter now, snow was even falling. Both boys were hardly dressed for such weather, in their thin shirts.

“What’s he holding?” a group of teenage girls stared at them as they walked by. 

“Are they cosplayers?” another girl in the group said. They picked up their pace, muttering between themselves. Somehow it was comforting.

“This is my plane, we’re not far from where I used to live” he said, eyes glancing in the direction he knew to be where his old apartment was. He wondered if his roommates still had his things in his room. Taehyun’s mouth was agape now, eyes trained on the convenience store across the street from them.

“There’s no magic anywhere, I can only feel my pups” he said. “Where are the trees? Why is the ground stone? What is that thing?!” he almost screamed his last question as a delivery driver rode past them on his scooter. Soobin chuckled.

“My plane has no magic, there are trees but not here, this is where people live and work. That was a form of transportation” he answered, finding this much more amusing than he should. Either way it was a good way to get the poor kids mind off of everything.

“Can we go in there?” the mage pointed at the convenience store. “It’s a store, right?”

“It is, I have no money though and your pups wouldn’t be very welcome in there” the mage’s expression of excitement and curiosity dimmed a bit. Soobin sighed, looking around, trying to figure out the time. It must have been the middle of the day, if it was a weekday then his roommates would most likely be in class. “I might be able to take you somewhere else”

It was funny to see the mage act like a fish out of water as he led him down the street to his old apartment. People stared, more than one middle aged lady stared scandalously at their soul marks. He let his feet do the work for them, mind wandering back to his own mate.

The only reason Soobin had been able to get back here was because of his intense emotions. That was what they had long since theorized. The problem was that Soobin couldn’t fake overwhelming emotion so it was hard to travel to his own plane. All he had to do to get back was think of Yeonjun, but getting back to Seoul was harder.

“This is a home?” Taehyun asked in disbelief. The human hadn’t even noticed they had stopped in front of his apartment building. 

“It’s a big building with multiple homes inside of it” he explained, they walked up all those stairs and he smiled seeing the door to his old apartment. He listened for a moment for any sounds and pushed the code in. 

“That’s all you have to protect people from getting in?” Taehyun asked as they entered the apartment. “That doesn’t seem very secure”

“Most people don’t go breaking and entering and if they do, we have security measures in place, like the police” And that got him into explaining who the police were. Turns out he was right, his roommates were in class. Soobin was wrong about the thought that his stuff would still be there, his old room was empty and his things were pushed in the closet. It was kind of bittersweet to open it up and find some of his things.

Last time he had been there, he had been in such a rush that he just grabbed what he needed. He could hear Taehyun wander around the apartment, probably observing everything new to him. Soobin picked up a stack of photos he previously had on the walls. Pictures of him with his roommates, his sister, graduation. His pillow was stuffed in there, still with the light blue cover on it. Slipping the photos inside, he grabbed the comforter that still had the sheets on it, happy to have the thick blanket. He folded it into a sort of really thick sack and stuffed more of his clothes in it, taking a few more items. 

“Can I call you hyung?” Soobin jumped from his spot on the floor. Taehyun stood in the doorway, looking shy and like he couldn’t meet the human’s eyes.

“How do you know I’m older than you?” he asked, amused at the mage.

“I found this” he held up a piece of paper. Soobin’s heart clenched at the sight.

_ Missing: Choi Soobin _

_ Age: 21 _

_ Last Seen: October 12th _

_ Any information, call # _

There was a photo of him with his sister, not long before her death. Whoever made the flyer had cropped her out but he knew the photo well. He grimaced, taking the flyer. Soobin had always wondered how hard they were looking for him, if they had given up. What did they think happened to him. Did his friends think he was dead in a ditch somewhere?

“Of course you can call me hyung” he said, not hiding the sad smile on his face. The mage pursed his lips.

“Your mate was that other dragon?” Taehyun asked. He nodded.

“Yeonjun, yeah he’s my mate, we should get going” back to Yeonjun. That strong emotion he had used earlier to come back here, it was his anger and disappointment in his mate. Even now he could feel the distant worry of his mate. No matter how angry and disappointed he couldn’t stay away too long, Yeonjun would be worried sick. The mage nodded, one of the copper colored pups let out a little whine.

“We can grab some food from the kitchen, come on you’ll like this”

* * *

They appeared back out in the forest he and Beomgyu had landed in just hours ago. He was holding a bundle of what Soobin promised was food. It didn’t look very edible to Taehyun, but Soobin said the food was wrapped inside to prevent sickness or something. Honestly he was ready to fall asleep. The day had been a whirlwind of not only feelings but discovery and injury. 

That underlying feeling of being so deeply unwanted by his mates was still tearing away at his heart, but at least he had Soobin now. The human was kind and understanding, he didn’t even care that Taehyun was a mage. Soobin hyung was the one lucky thing he got today. A friend even if he gained and lost two mates in one day.

It was only a minute before a giant blue and purple dragon landed in front of them, scaring him and his pups. Soobin sighed, setting his things down and staring up at the dragon. He was probably talking to his mate the same way Taehyun had been able to talk to Beomgyu. Suddenly the dragon shifted into the man he had seen earlier.

“I will tear up all your underwear if you ever do that again” the very naked, very teary eyed dragon ran up to his mate, smacking his head before hugging him tightly.

“Hyung, we need to talk about this” Soobin said. Taehyun knew this was about him and the two mates that were absent from this meeting. At that moment, Taehyun was grateful that the human was fighting for him because he was so tired, too tired. “And Taehyun deserves to be in this conversation”

“You know what he is, I don’t understand why you think keeping him around is a good idea” if he didn’t have nerve damage that would have hurt more. 

“He’s Hyuka’s mate!” Soobin argued, they had long since broken the hug. Even while they were arguing though, Soobin had still grabbed clothes out of his strange blanket bag and given them to his mate. 

“He’s a mage! You know how he feels about them!”

“Yeah, I’m very much aware or did you forget how we first met, I think I still have a scar on my forehead!”

“Then why can’t you understand why this shouldn’t be happening?” Yeonjun seemed one step away from tearing his colorful hair out. 

“Before he’s a mage, he’s Hyuka’s mate! Why can’t you see that?”

“It doesn’t change the fact that he’s still a mage!” The dragon argued back. “Beomgyu has told be about him, he’s used those dogs for their magic, he’s stolen their magic”

Taehyun sighed, defeated. Why couldn’t they understand the pups would have died if he hadn’t. By the ancestors he was so tired of this. All he’s been doing since he had been banished was fighting. Fighting to stay alive, fighting to keep the pups alive, fighting to save Beomgyu, fighting to get to his other mate. Taehyun was so tired of fighting. 

“Those pups adore him! I find it hard to believe he did anything horrible to them!”

“They’re dogs Soobin”

“And unlike you I’ve spoken to Taehyun, he is not a bad person”

“You’ve known him less than a day!” The dragon argued back. Taehyun felt himself leaning backwards against a nearby tree, legs aching and failing him. 

“I knew you less than a day and trusted you!”

“We’re mates! Of course you trusted me!”

“Then why can’t you trust Hyuka’s mate?!” Soobin’s argument wasn’t just stern, it was loud. Those words seemed to take Yeonjun back. 

“You know this is different” he countered. Soobin scoffed. 

“You know back on my plane, we wouldn’t even be allowed to be together. Where I’m from they think two men being together is unnatural, wrong, something incomprehensible! The two of us would never be able to have the relationship we do now. If you had grown up there, you would understand that Taehyun didn’t choose to be born a mage! Maybe he’s stolen magic but can you blame him when every other being on this plane has magic and he doesn’t. How is he supposed to survive without it! He can’t change the fact he is a mage like I can’t change the fact that I’m fucking gay!”

“Binnie-“

“How can you be so narrow minded as to believe that because he’s a mage he has to be evil! It isn’t a fucking personality trait Yeonjun! Give him a chance, Jesus!” The human was red in the face, veins in his neck protruding a bit. Taehyun felt his eyes growing heavy, his head pounding. He was so tired. 

“You don’t understand, the mages are murders!”

“Know what they used to say about gay people when I was growing up? That we prey on children, that we spread disease like a plague, that we destroy the morality of society. To me, everything you’re saying about Taehyun is exactly the same thing people have been using against me for years. Am I any of those things? Have I hurt children, have I spread a plague, have I destroyed society? Because I haven’t and you can’t look at me once and decide that I’m evil because of who I am”

“Baby” it almost hurt hearing how sad the dragon was. 

“No- Hyung if you hold the actions of other people against him that’s unjust and irresponsible” Soobin sounded sad too, Taehyun could even see the tears streaming down his face. 

“Hyung, don’t fight” a nap sounded fantastic. “You love your mate, don’t fight”

For a moment Taehyun felt like he was back in that bed after his fight with Yul, whole body aching. Like the healing mages were running around him, trying to fix him and all he could do was lay there. Not only useless but the instigator of a bad situation. That moment passed by when he finally fell into a much needed slumber. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry Hyunnie. God I’m a bitch.


	9. White Dagger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise.

Taehyun saw a woman. Normally he wouldn’t bat an eye if he passed her by. But this wasn’t just passing by someone in the halls. He was following her. Not of his own accord at all, it was like she was pulling him along with each step. Although she didn’t seem to notice him. 

“Who are you?” He wanted to ask, tried to ask. But he couldn’t even move his mouth. Taehyun began to panic. Was he under some sort of spell? Did Soobin leave him? Did his only friend and ally toss him away to some random woman? 

No, that wasn’t it. No, he was dreaming. He had fallen asleep earlier from exhaustion and this was a dream. That gave him some comfort but any mage worth their salt knew that vivid dreams like this weren’t done without magic. So the big question was if he was doing this to himself or if someone else was doing it. 

“Hyuna!” The woman suddenly picked up her pace, running through the unfamiliar forest of yellow trees. Up ahead he saw another woman, Hyuna. She was petite, pale, and had a pretty face. Her hair was a bright reddish orange and waved down her back. 

“Seoah! You’re back!” The woman smiled brightly, arms opening wide in expectation of a hug. The woman he was following, Seoah, practically ran to her friend and hugged her tightly. 

“How’s Dawn?” Seoah asked, not releasing their hug. 

“Oh he’s the same, he’s been teaching to little ones lately” Hyuna smiled fondly. 

“They’re old enough now?” Seoah asked. “Feels like just yesterday they were born”

“Well, you know how fast it all flies” Hyuna said, walking back towards the direction she had appeared from. Seoah followed closely behind. 

“Oh I know, one moment my brother’s as tall as my hip the next he’s taller than I am!” Seoah chuckled. Hyuna laughed with her in agreement. The two women seemed close, like there was a mutual understanding between them. For some time the pair of women walked in comfortable silence. Despite Hyuna being the one to lead her friend wherever they were going, Seoah seemed familiar with the area, stepping over a protruding root here or steering clear of a patch of overgrown plants mindlessly. 

The women arrived at a large lake. The beach was small, most of the area around the lake was filled with plant life, flowers and weeds growing sporadically throughout the area. It looked peaceful. 

“How is it coming along?” Hyuna asked, as if her friend would know exactly what she was talking about. Evidently she did because Seoah sighed. 

“We’re making progress but you know how hard it is to convince people”

“I understand they don’t want to leave their homes. For many of us our families have been in the same area for thousands of years” Hyuna said knowingly. Seoah let out a tiny huff. 

“Haven’t they ever heard that home is where the heart is?” She complained. Taehyun had actually never heard that saying before. It made sense though, considering he never felt like he was at home. How he wished he had a home. 

A nice cottage or something, with a large bed for him and his two mates. It would be by a window so they would all wake up to the sunbeams dancing across their skin. Even if their home was small, they would make it work and love it dearly. Taehyun would play with the pups in the woods nearby. 

His eyes stung thinking about it. The idea of it was so simple but the reality was further away than it ever had been before. How could he have such a life if his mates refused to look at him without discontent. 

“Well maybe you should ask them to just visit first, see the area” Hyuna suggested. Seoah chuckled humorlessly. 

“That’s like asking a siren to just come visit the desert” yeah they’d run out of water and die, not a good idea. Hyuna seemed to understand her friend and rolled her eyes. 

“You know not everyone is so unreasonable”

“But they don’t trust me, you know how long it took me to get you and Dawn here! And you only moved because of the twins” Seoah grumbled. Hyuna sighed. 

“That was what got Dawn to come, you know I was on board from the start” 

“Either way-“ Seoah began. She was cut off when a tiny screech came from behind Taehyun. Suddenly something came flying at Hyuna. The woman seemed delighted as she caught the object. She held it close to her chest and that was when Taehyun realized it wasn’t an object. 

In Hyuna’s arms was a small, fox sized dragon. It must have been no older than five years. The dragon had brilliant white scales and deep yellow eyes. Taehyun couldn’t believe it. No one had heard of a new dragon in decades. Was his dream from the past?

“Oh my sweet Nabi! How was your training with dad?” Hyuna cooed at the little dragon in her arms. 

And if he was shocked at seeing the young dragon, Taehyun was even more astounded when a giant pale yellow dragon landed in the lake. Water splashed around it, ruining the peaceful stillness he had admired. The dragon’s appearance didn’t seem to phase either woman and Hyuna even grinned widely. 

“Dawn must be done with the twins” she said.

* * *

Soobin was glad his mate had at least allowed Taehyun back into the cave. Seeing as he was passed out in a cold sweet. Beomgyu and Kai looked at them in alarm when Soobin came in carrying the mage. Yeonjun followed with a glum expression on his face. 

“What happened?” Beomgyu asked. Soobin sighed, a little pissed that he was only now worried after sending the boy off crying earlier. 

“Scoot over Huening Kai” he couldn’t even hide his disappointment at the nymph. Hyuka pouted a bit but moved over. Soobin deposited the mage on the bed. 

“Our bed?” Yeonjun grumbled. He shut up after an angry glance from Soobin. The human wasn’t done with his mate yet. Just temporarily distracted. He took the comforter from his mate and draped it over the red head. 

“Probably all the stress” Soobin muttered. “It takes a lot out of someone to be treated so horribly”

“Hyung-“ Hyuka began but Soobin glared at the nymph. 

“I don’t want to hear it” he snapped back. Hyuka slinked back a bit, which of course made Beomgyu open his mouth to say something. “You either remember whose home this is dragon”

“Yeah mine” Yeonjun snorted. 

“Fine if you don’t want me here I’ll take Taehyun and go to my plane forever” he threatened. It was probably a little too harsh from the feeling of raw fear and sadness that he felt through the bond. He let out a deep breath and felt the mages forehead for a fever. Taehyun did feel a little hot but what bothered him more was the constant movement behind his closed eyelids. It was like the mage was trying desperately to look around him but he couldn’t open his eyes. 

“I’ll find something for the pups to eat” Yeonjun muttered, looking at the pups now cradled against his chest. Soobin was too angry and petty to say anything as his mate left. 

He just couldn’t believe how backwards Yeonjun was about mages. It was like he was completely blind to the fact that not everyone could be fit into the same box. 

Choosing to ignore his annoyance and anger, Soobin went to his backpack and carried it back to the bed. Beomgyu looked on in curiosity as he riffled through the pockets to find a fever reliever. Glad he found some, Soobin set the bottle on the bedside table and put his backpack on the floor. He needed to get water. 

Yeonjun was in the kitchen when he got there, gently coaxing one of the copper pups into eating some spare meat they had. It was hard to stay angry at him when he was being so adorable. God that’s annoying. 

“Babe” Yeonjun tore his attention away from the pups and gave him big sad eyes. God he was supposed to be as fearsome as a dragon, not as adorable as a newborn puppy. Soobin might still be angry but first and foremost he was whipped for his husband. 

“Babe, let’s talk about this, no yelling just let us talk this out” Yeonjun pleaded, walking forwards to wrap his arms around Soobin’s waist. “I don’t blame him for the actions of others, I just panicked”

“Why would you panic?” He asked, hands curled around his mate. 

“Logically I know not every mage is the same. But for my whole life, any time I had seen a mage they had been either trying to hurt me or someone else. Wouldn’t you be weary if for 90 years you’ve only known one thing and then one day you have to try and think of it all differently”

“Junnie, being so narrow minded isn’t something you can defend” he sighed. 

“I might be narrow minded about this but right now I am trying, okay? For you, for Hyuka, for me”

And Soobin wasn’t dense enough to believe that awakening someone to their ignorance was like flicking on a light switch. Understanding and retraining how you see things takes time. If Yeonjun was going to try, how could he be mad?

“Okay, I’m sorry for yelling earlier” he tucked his chin into his mates neck, finding comfort in the familiar spot. Yeonjun let out a breath. 

“Thank you, I’m sorry for not being more understanding”

“We can work on that together, now come on I’ve got to get some water for Taehyun” he pulled away from the hug but could feel how much his mate didn’t want that. Yeonjun clung to him as he got water. 

“Don’t want to let you go” Yeonjun muttered in an adorable tone, lips already back on his neck. This was something he did, Yeonjun loved to rest his face in the crook of his neck, lips on him. It wasn’t always sexual, in fact it rarely was. Soobin guessed this made his mate feel closer to him. It honestly never failed to make his heart flutter. 

“Taehyun-“ he began, knowing full well how much a fever reliever could help. Yeonjun just nipped at his skin. Now that wasn’t something he normally did. It was fucking hot as hell. 

“Is asleep, babe he can’t take the pill if he’s out cold” and Soobin really thinks his hormones were controlling him because that sounded far more reasonable than it should be. 

“Hyuka knows what to do with the pill, meet me in your treasure room baby, we’re going to make good use of that ridiculous silver throne you have”

* * *

Beomgyu absentmindedly ran his fingers along his new mates arm, just content to be feeling him close. Hyuka allowed him, even leaned into his touch. They didn’t say anything, just both watched their other mate, swaddled underneath the puffiest blanket he had ever seen. Taehyun’s brilliant red hair was drenched with sweat, sticking to his forehead. 

It was beyond strange to him that one of his mates was a mage. The rarity of that happening almost made it a miracle. If it was that. Beomgyu guessed only time could tell. 

“We should give him a chance” he broke their comfortable silence. Huening Kai froze, eyes darting to him in alarm. The dragon could feel how mixed his mates feelings were. Hyuka felt some combination of anger, shock, disbelief, and most importantly a small part of him agreed. 

“Do you think it’s because of the bond?” The nymph asked, not letting into his more negative emotions. Beomgyu was impressed with his control over himself. He knew that Kai wasn’t more than 20 years old. It had been a long time since he was 20, but Beomgyu knew he wouldn’t have been so calm and collected about all of this back then. 

“From what I know, bonds only connect you to someone else, show you who you were fated to be with. The gods choose our perfect partners” 

“Then do you believe that the gods are testing us now?” Hyuka asked, body leaning back into Beomgyu’s hold. Despite the fact the nymph was taller than he was, somehow he felt like his mate was small enough to fit in his pocket. 

“I think that love is hard work, look at your hyungs” he admitted. They were from two different planes entirely, it might have been a bigger hurtle than what he and his mates were going through. 

“Those two make it look effortless, trust me they probably fell in love at first sight” Kai giggled. It was such a cute sound. Beomgyu just wanted to kiss his adorable cheeks. 

“When Taehyun wakes up, we can talk this through, figure something out” he suggested. Kai sighed, an internal battle happening inside him. 

“It’s going to be hard for me to trust him” the nymph said. “My parents were burnt down by mages, my home too” the sadness in his voice had hints of anger but also some kind of disconnect. 

“You try not to think about it?” He guessed. Kai nodded. 

“It gets less painful as the days pass, but when I look at him all I can think is what if he was one of the ones who did it? What if it was his father, brother, someone who would be my family now…” Kai admitted, turning his head slightly so Beomgyu lost sight of his teary brown eyes. 

It was honestly a nightmare scenario. The person you were destined to spend the rest of your life with was responsible for the death of your loved ones. It made him think back to his family. The scar along his fathers back where he lost his wing, the cloudy eye of his mother. If he had lost them he didn’t know what he would’ve done. 

It had been some time since he moved away from them. It became a custom for dragons in the past hundreds of years to move out as soon as they were of age. The more dispersed they were, the harder to find and less people were in danger. Especially when raising hatchlings. Beomgyu would probably feel similar to Kai in his shoes. 

“Hyuka” he gently soothed his mate. “What’s in that strange bag Soobin has?” maybe this would serve as a worthwhile distraction for them. He knew from experience that brewing on the past wasn’t going to help you anytime soon.

“Human things, I assume” the nymph said, eyes trailing over the discarded bag. Suddenly Soobin ran in the room, startling the pair of mates. He had a bowl of water, set it down by that strange medicine he had, and looked at Hyuka.

“Hyuka can you help him take that pill?” the human asked, not even bothering for a response before he bolted out of the room. Beomgyu hardly noticed how flushed the man was before he was a gust of wind. Kai just sighed deeply.

“They’re always like that” he shook his head, getting out of his mates hold to grab the things Soobin had set down. The nymph hesitated as he sat down on the bed next to their other mate. Beomgyu could feel his strange mixture of emotions come back.

“I can do it for you” he said getting up, Kai shook his head.

“No, no matter what he’s sick and we’re the ones caring for him” he sighed as he gently opened the mage’s mouth and stuck the medicine inside. He lifted their mate’s head up and fed him the water. His body did the work and he swallowed the medicine. “You’re right, we have to figure something out and we won’t be able to if I don’t try”

* * *

Taehyun’s eyes followed Seoah as she walked along some kind of path he couldn’t see. Each of her footsteps was calculated and she seemed to know exactly where to go but there was no flatted grass beneath her feet or even a scarcity of plant life. She was quite literally dodging branches as she walked.

As suspected he had no physical form in this… dream? Maybe. Unlike the woman he was seemingly attached to, he went right through the plants. Seoah stopped suddenly, as if she couldn’t pass some invisible line. And she continued to stand there, unmoving, waiting for something. If Taehyun hadn’t already been asleep he would’ve fallen asleep, that was how long she stood there, not even a twitch in her legs.

And suddenly she started walking again, a few more steps before a middle aged man with long, black, braided hair. He was bulky and gruff, like he was always working out. The tanned skin he showed off added to the thought. While he wasn’t as tall as Taehyun was, he was taller than Seoah and looked down at her as if she was a bug on his shoe.

“What do you want, girl?” even his voice came out as deep and raspy, like he was constantly screaming. Seoah didn’t seem intimidated by him, she met his eyes unwaveringly.

“I want to ask you if you would be willing to move your home” she began. “It is dangerous here and I don’t want you to be hunted down like so many other of your kind” the man narrowed his eyes.

“Sounds like a threat” he huffed out. She shook her head.

“No, I have found a home for dragons where no mages can reach you. I know you will not trust me as a stranger, so I have come to ask to stay on your land for some time”

“You want to live on my land?” the man let out an incredulous laugh. “Why should I?”

“I have not come empty handed, I know more than just how to get past your barriers” she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a gleaming dagger that was pure white. The hilt was intricate and decorated in opulent purple gems. It seemed to catch the dragon’s eyes. He walked towards her, or towards the blade.

“How did you find it?” he marveled, gingerly taking the dagger from her hold.

“The mages drained it of it’s magic but it is a Moseom blade” and even Taehyun had heard of the legendary daggers. Eons ago, when the dragons had still been thousands of warring clans, the Moseom leader had all of his clans treasures made into four daggers. The Moseom clan had been struggling to find its members their mates. With how many clans were at odds with each other, each clan had dwindled down to mere families. In an attempt for his children to find their mates he made the blades as offerings to the clans his children sensed their mates to be in. His eldest, a daughter, found her mate in a nearby clan. She took the silver dagger and waited at their land’s border. For four days she sat there, waiting. For four days one of the clan watched her. On the fourth night the clan leader came to the border, asking her why she was there.

The daughter had told them she sensed her mate within their clan and was offering the blade as a gift. She said she hoped with this gift, he would allow her onto his land to find her mate. The clan leader pondered this. His clan had been having trouble with the constant fueding. Their youngest generation were more than of age to find their mates but hadn’t. So he accepted. He took the blade and led her to find her mate.

Days later, the eldest daughter came back with her mate. She told her father what she had done and how she had found her mate. The couple had decided to stay with the daughter’s mates clan. The Moseom clan leader accepted this and let his eldest daughter go. Some time later his third child had sensed his mate when out flying. The third child told his father and was given the same instructions as his sister. Except this time he was given a black dagger.

The third child went to the border of the clan’s land and waited for four days. On the fourth day the clan’s leader came out. The third child greeted her and explained why he was there. She accepted the blade and he too found his mate. 

When the youngest child, another boy fell ill, his father knew right away what was wrong. Like Taehyun’s mate, the boy’s mates had found each other. The next day, three people approached their land, claiming to be looking for their mate. The Moseom leader offered up the very white blade Taehyun was looking at. The mates accepted and went on to stay with the youngest in the Moseom clan.

It was some time before the second child, also a girl, sensed her mate. She had dreamed of giving away the golden blade her father had made. It wasn’t until after her youngest sibling found his mates that she took the blade and went off to find her mate on her own. For years the Moseom clan leader waited for his daughter’s return. She never did, leaving her father devastated. Even after his death, the youngest child waited for her return. But she never came back.

The story was a common tale in many children’s books. He kind of always thought I was just that, a story for kids to see unity and love. If the daggers existed then the story must have had some truth. It begged the question where the gold blade went then. 

“You may stay as long as you wish” the man said, eyes returning to her, not cold and distant but welcoming. Seoah bowed her head and followed him. 

Like before the dream suddenly shifted, swirling around him like smoke. Out of the smoke he saw Seoah again, she was sitting in the grass, looking down at a pair of gold earrings and sighing. Suddenly she looked up, almost as if she was looking right at Taehyun and smiled. 

“Soobinie!” She waved. Taehyun snapped his head around, it couldn’t be the human he just met. It just couldn’t be. But by the ancestors it was Soobin. He was younger, slightly shorter with sandy brown hair and strange human clothing. The boy smiled back at her, those familiar dimples showing. 

“Noona!”


End file.
